Beach Poetry

Caroline Kennedy is a wonderful writer whose words seem to capture a moment in time that one can easily relate to. In her anthology book called A Family of Poems My Favorite Poems for Children she devotes one section of her book to The Seashore.  
She writes " Everyone has places that are special to them. ...In my family, our special place is by the sea. As children, we built sand castles and collected hermit crabs together, competed in swimming races and went on sailing picnics. As we grew older we prepared for hurricanes or walked the beach after a storm. These shared experiences gave our family a sense of closeness, a lot of fun and laughter, and a common outlook on life." 
In The Seashore section she included a poem her mother wrote.

Sea Joy
by Jacqueline Bouvier
When I go down by the sandy shore
I can think of nothing I want more
Than to live by the booming blue sea
As the seagulls flutter round about me

I can run about-when the tide is out
With  the wind and the sand and the sea all about
And the seagulls are swirling and diving for fish 
Oh-to live by the sea is my only wish.     

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that in Caroline and her brother John were encouraged to write or choose a favorite poem for each holiday or birthday as gift for their mother or grandparents instead of buying a card or present. She and her brother would copy and illustrate their choices and their mother would paste them in a special scrapbook.