“Those magic waves”: Turn Your Back on the Shore is a collection of poetry celebrating a love for surfing and love of life

 

Turn Your Back on the Shore: The Surf Poetry Collection by Scott Rosin

Scott Rosin

Independently Published, 2023

ISBN: 9798378904563

Ebook, 176 ppg.

Buy link

 

 

Have you ever had the opportunity to ride the waves with a surfboard? If so, and even if you haven’t, get ready to be out on those waves in the poetry collection Turn Your Back on the Shore: The Surf Poetry Collection by Scott Rosin. This collection of poems captures the magic and freedom of surfing, where everyone is equal and the waves make no judgment. The sea can sometimes be harsh, demanding, or cruel, but surfers understand her in a way no landlubber ever will, and love her in spite of it all.

 

I really liked the poem “Arrival.” It is a long poem but I was hanging on every word. It really drew me in and kept me reading. It’s a great poem! I especially liked these lines:

 

“When the big swells come

we walk the rock trail

down to the water

the old ocean beckons

surging and swelling

bawdy and flirting

crazy with power” (Page 12)

 

This particular poem really captures the surfer’s mindset, how the surfer will be “measuring ourselves/assessing strengths/shoring up weakness” (page 11) and when they take to the waves, “we are not the men/we were on the shore/no longer workers/husbands or fathers.” (Page 13)

 

I also loved reading the poem “Grom,” which talks about the author’s earliest fascination with surfing via his sister’s neglected surfboard. It’s no surprise to learn that, as a parent, he has instilled the same love for surfing into his offspring. In the poem “Vestiges” (another long poem, which I enjoyed reading), he talks about one morning when he and his son head out to go surfing. And then, when they are out on the sea surfing:

 

“We don't talk much on the water

my boy and I

the sea is not for chitchat

mundane nattering

 

The sea is its own endless poem

each canto

a rustling tide for the senses” (Page 27)

 

I also enjoyed reading the story in verse of “Smokey and Kit.” Yeah, there’s a lesson to be learned there. I understood the message: That surfers may HATE having to be away from the water for their jobs and responsibilities, but as much as they hate it, it makes the experience of being back out there on the water and surfing again all that much more sweeter and euphoric.

 

The other poems are about life, surfers come and gone, conversations with people as well as his personal relationships. They are all good poems and I enjoyed reading every one of them. As I read some of the poems that shared the magic of being out on the water – just you and a surfboard – I began to understand the meaning behind the title Turn Your Back on the Shore. It is on the shore where the real world is – life and all of its hardships, responsibilities and problems – but out on the water, all of that is gone. There’s no discussion about work or financial problems, no whining or drama, and no status or labels. To turn your back on the shore is to embrace surfer life and to answer the call of the water.

 

Turn Your Back on the Shore is an entrancing collection of poems that will sweep readers away right out onto the water with the surfer, where worries don’t exist and there is only the love of the ocean. The poems in this book celebrate the love of surfing and how the experience of surfing can add fulfillment to anyone’s life.

 

 

Five stars

 

 

 

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.