I’ve been told lately
That I didn’t paint this one quite right
Or it must be somewhere else
That our local jetty doesn’t look like this
That it’s all busted up
And full of holes
Where the ocean pours in
And leaves salt in every wound
But I painted this a long time ago
From photos and memories
Made even earlier
We never had 4 wheel drives
And the sand road wasn’t so well packed yet
So we walked along the edge of the seawall
Unbroken
From the carpark to the rusted chain
Our first view
Was this
Looking at it now
It’s easy to forget
That there was a time
A time and half a time before
When the path that we walked
Wasn’t falling apart
And once in awhile
A painting like this
Let’s us stop
And remember
-Matt Beard