Member-only story
National Poetry Month, Day #28
Pamelita’s Pareu
Remembering Nosara Beach, Guanacaste, Costa Rica
Pamelita’s Pareu
Paint-stained fingers, rum-bright nights,
sea salt and quiet songs in our hair —
Nosara painted us into forever.
Sun sang in the palm fronds,
paints bloomed in our hands,
and the breeze, drunk on hibiscus,
staggered through the trees.
We wore the day like a second skin.
Our laughter came in technicolor,
The sea kept time before us,
soft-footed, slow, and sure.
Pam’s pareu fluttered like a flag in the breeze,
stitched with salt, surf, and sunlight,
a memory we wrapped around our shoulders
and carried home to nurture.
— Adelia E. Ritchie
Author’s note: This quick little sketch of a flower on my friend Pam’s pareu has brought me joy over two decades of looking at it. The four of us (the “Costa Rica Chicas”) rented a suite at the then-rustic Harbor Reef Hotel at Nosara Beach, and camped out there to walk…
