~ Delta Poetry Review ~

Diana Ewell Engel

Pawleys Island May Flood

We set out,

two sisters and a cousin

scoffing at the dark inlet’s creep,

inching like pernicious doubt.

We know this shape-shifting weather,

a familiar relative who visits each spring,

then morphs into wandering wraiths—

the Grey Man and grieving Alice Flagg.

Wind-stinging sand grits our legs,

feet tramping to witness sunset glory.

Our bodies shudder, recounting

jellyfish stings in roaring surf,

the harrowing drag of riptide

amid sun umbrellas and laughter.

Near the North End,

tangerine rays turn sky into a coral roof.

Manor houses preen, stilted above dunes,

windows streaming western horizon’s fire.

We shield our eyes

as waves behind us break,

then race against

the inlet’s burgeoning pool

to reach our South End cottage

where we collapse into beds,

seizing sheets

as if grabbing for anchors.

Our fears disperse

like whispers

through the porch screen.

Diana Ewell Engel is inspired by light and shadow, the mysterious turnings of nature and our lives, how we journey through disappointment and loss, and the resonances we gather along the way. Her chapbook, Excavating Light, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2019. Engel holds a B.A. in Literature and a M.L.S. from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Currently, she works as a writing tutor at Guilford Technical Community College in Jamestown, NC.