The Legible Element

A lyrical memoir of a life lived in and out of the water. Award-winning writer Ralph Sneeden combines poetry and prose in a search for the origins of his passion for buoyancy and immersion.

This collection of essays about surfing, sailing, fishing, scuba diving, and swimming are earthly dispatches from an ongoing voyage fueled by joy, longing, loss, and humor. Water provides the language of the essays, functioning as both a lens and mirror for the author’s exploration of the act and outcomes of writing itself. As Sneeden says in the preface, “…it’s writing that ultimately needs to rip its own temporary swath, churn the surface of memory into something that seems more permanent.”