coastal memories

Sister Lou Ella Hickman

April 5, 2026

once i lived five blocks from the corpus christi bay

with its small coastline that could reek low tide

if the wind was up

during the spring and summer

the wind surfers hoisted sails wiping like colorful flags

someone told me 

they even came from out of state to dance this curve of water

driving by on clear days 

i could see ships slowly slide across the horizon

that would later dock and unload at or port . . .

another memory also flashes back—

less than five hundred miles north

another coast

a small pond with a sandy shore

hidden within a small embrace of unnamed trees

often our cattle came to drink—

its water pushing back the dry july heat

from their small red and white faces

Sister Lou Ella Hickman, OVISS writings have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies. Press 53 published her first book of poetry in 2015 entitled she: robed and wordless and her second, Writing the Stars on October 4, 2024. She was nominated for the Pushcart Prize in 2017 and 2020.