Betty O’Hearn reads her selection based on the Gordon Wetmore painting
at the March 28, 2015 Art of Poetry event.
Photo courtesy of Roger and Ginny Sanford.

Betty O’Hearn
Return
after “Bald Head Island, NC” by Gordon Wetmore

At the confluence of the Cape Fear River,
and the Atlantic Ocean lies unique Bald Head Island,
an oasis from the rigors of my real life.
My white wooden rocker calls to me.
Packing up for vacation gives me stress.
Coupled with a six hour drive, timing it
with the ferry and 2 restless grandchildren
can be a challenge.

It is another world on the two mile long island.
The girls are already building a sandcastle.
Glasses of chardonnay are poured.
Tasting salt air and feeling beads of water
on my hair, my body unwinding.
On the ledge in front of my chair I followed
a baby sand crab as he scurries down to
the deck disappearing between the cracks.

The ocean is restless and sudsy.
I return each year but it feels like I never left.