Salt Water and Sea Breeze
A vivid, authentic multimedia piece meant to place the reader in a new world of a summer beach afternoon.
I throw my head back and laugh,
the sea breeze pouring into me.
The warm weather The sun on my face The smell of salt water The light breeze moving my hair back. The bluest waves ebb and flow, lapping at the shore. I stand at the edge, watching the cool water sweep over my feet. The tide ebbs and flows, ebbs and flows. I walk on the shore, friends around me, next to me as we talk. I throw my head back and laugh, the sea breeze pouring into me. We run to the sea, jumping to catch the waves. Swim to keep your head afloat, or fall to get a gulp of salt Water up your nose. Come up for air and sputter, pout and watch your friends laugh. The salt water and sea breeze consume you. Walk out the water, struggling as the waves push you away, sideways inwards, and out. Walk to the ‘showers’, more like a showerhead on a slab on the beach. Rinse the sand off, the salt out of your now crunchy, wavy, hair; wisps flying out of your braid. Go back to the towel and bags, sit with your friends, talk laugh, eat grapes sunbathe, tan and buy a bottle of water at the stand. Sit in the overhead gazebo’s shade watch the sun lower to late afternoon.
Galia Shkedi
Process
When Laura, my mentor, and I sat down to brainstorm the multimedia piece, we were both at a loss. Multimedia pieces were neither of our fortes, and we weren’t sure where to start. As we scrolled through the published stories on the Girls Write Now website, there was one genre that stood out: visual poetry. Combining our love for writing, and images to help visualize the story, seemed like the perfect idea, and from there our process began. We brainstormed ideas, spending multiple sessions debating over which would be best and freewriting, before finally settling on one: the summer beaches in Israel. Once I finished writing the poetry part, I started hunting for photos, deciding that I would only use my own. I thought it would help illustrate the images I was detailing in a specific manner, and create a more personal and meaningful effect. I searched through my camera roll, through the many images captured over the summer, highlighting a few to be used. When I went back to visit family in April, I went back to the beach, (despite the chilly, windy weather), and took over a hundred more photos. Finally having all the tools I needed, I was able to create my final piece on Canva, hours poured into my first visual poetry piece, and I couldn’t be prouder of it.
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Galia Shkedi
Galia Shkedi is a teen in high school whose main interests are writing, music and cuddling her dog. Whether it's journalism, poetry or a personal essay, she views writing as a way to transfer her thoughts onto a page, and share whatever story is worth telling to the world.
