“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.

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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.

Beware the Demon Chompers Lurking Within the Ocean: Her Teeth, Like Waves tells a chilling tale of an urban legend with some truth to it

 

 

Her Teeth, Like Waves

By Nikki R. Leigh

Spooky House Press, 2022

ISBN: 978-1-959946-12-7 (ebook)

97 ppg.

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Kat and Mitch are twin siblings who grew up diving with their parents through various bodies of water. But there was one body of water their parents had warned them about, where something evil lurked.

 

Kat grew up shrugging the whole thing off, eventually losing her love for the water. Her twin, meanwhile, was captivated by the tales, and when he has the opportunity to lead a group of explorers on a deep dive expedition in those same waters – well, let’s just say that the opportunity to actually find the evil thing strikes, but not in a good way. Worried about her brother after he is reported missing, Kat sets out with her girlfriend, Jules, to find him.

 

Even though Kat and Mitch are twins, they are different in their own ways. Mitch loves exploring the ocean long into adulthood, whereas Kat does not. And while Kat is more cautious in life, Mitch has a strong sense of daring and mischief.

 

When a sea-hardy woman named Pauline offers to give Kat and Jules a ride out onto the ocean to help them find Mitch, they take her up on the offer. Kat is wary of some kind of “demon teeth” lurking in the waters, but Pauline assures her that there is likely a logical explanation to her brother’s disappearance. All the same, Pauline reminds Kat that the sea can be unforgiving. She also points out that, when it comes to the sea, “shit lives in it. And that shit gets hungry.”

 

It does indeed get hungry, and in this case, something evil is waiting in the ocean, literally starving and ready for its next meal.

 

The stories about the demon teeth are nothing but the stuff of urban legends – or are they?

 

Her Teeth, Like Waves is a dark tale of things better left unearthed, especially the things that can be said to be buried in the ocean. Those who ignore the warnings of what lay in the sea do so at their own peril. The next time you are out on the ocean, tread carefully, for you never know what sort of monster hides within those waves.

 

 

Five stars.

 

 

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