Padre Island Remembrances

Betsy Joseph

March 1, 2026

Feeling somewhat like a tourist

in my own life,

I sat on my haunches

in the early August sun

while observing my two sons

then ages six and three

navigate the sandy beach

with their plastic pails and shovels

oblivious to the detritus

along the shoreline

and simply delighted with their finds:

broken seashells,

empty soda cans,

garlands of sea algae

which they draped around their necks

as if young warriors

in a coming-of-age ceremony.

The scene looked foreign to me.

I recalled the pristine sandy stretch

conjured from long ago

now missing, now replaced

by eroding shoreline and a smell

more dank than salty.

My sons saw only treasures

and embraced all the wonders

in their version of paradise.

They missed nothing.

Betsy Joseph lives in Dallas and has poems that have appeared in a number of journals and anthologies. She is the author of two poetry books published by Lamar University Literary Press: Only So Many Autumns (2019) and Relatively Speaking (2022), a collaborative collection with her brother, poet Chip Dameron.