I noticed this poem has been entered for the July contest, congratulations, but you might want to fine-tune or tweak it in place for more clarity. Here are some suggestions for stanza one:

"As I wander on the sand,
watching waves crash on the shore
I wonder why I wandered here
and what exactly I’m here for"

Consider these minor tweaks:

"...watching waves crash against the shore;

I wonder why I wandered here;

Exactly what is it am I  looking for?"

Maybe you want to use a thesaurus and check out a couple of other verbs for "wander."

You can get more verve out of that third stanza, especially the last two lines,  try something like this:

"A dark thought invaded my mind -

What if for me, there is no destiny?"

In Stanza three, try using a simile in the first line and moving the question mark to the second line:

"Could life for me be like an empty beach

With lonely footsteps in the sand

Could it mean the sea will swallow even those

To satisfy my life's great demand?"

I hope this helped and again, congratulations and good luck!!

Shilohx7

 I have to say that this is one of my favorite poems that I've read on here so far. Then imagry was really well as well as the concept. The concept that you were trying to portray if Im not mistaken is pretty much being lost in the world and wondering if you belong which I have felt so its good it see a poem about it.

 The poem is executed well' however, it is an overdone subject.  An overdone subject may make the poem seem trite if it is obvious prima facie.  It reminds me of the existentialist philosophy of Albert Camus or Jean-Paul Sartre.  The image of the beach works well as imagery representing the unknown an inspiring the main theme.

Hello Natalie,

Your rhyming and diction is good, except the tenses get mixed: "As I wander", "why I wandered", and "Could life just be", "was that what life had". . .  I commend you on your attempt to bring an old subject to light. But, I'm sorry, I definitely agree with Michael B., this poem is trite. In order for anyone now to write a poem, or prose, on this subject matter: Existentialist philosophy, the author had better skew it with a unique focus.

Perhaps you might begin with the loss of a close loved one: mother, husband, sister, whatever; comment on how you actually, inwardly hated that person, although in all outward appearances you have shown nothing but love. But now you've an epiphany and know you love. . .blah, blah --you get the idea, I'm sure. Just give the whole concept a different view, then maybe the reader may relate to the emotion(s) you reflect in the poem. . .?

~Kirsten

I like this poem overall, but in a couple of places the metre or "poetic" feel of the piece kind of disappear.

As I wander on the sand,
watching waves crash on the shore
I wonder why I wandered here

and what exactly I’m here for

The first three lines here are fine (I, at least, like wonder/wander), but the last has almost no metre to it whatsoever, which is really distracting and throws the reader out of the sense of poetry. 

Every person has a purpose;
every action has an aim.
So the reason that I wandered
must have a focus just the same.

I absolutely love the first two lines!  The third line has no real problems, but the fourth line is just a beat too long and throws off the sense of rhythm (maybe change to "needs a focus just the same"?)

I realize that this is free verse, so my critiques are perhaps not so sensible.  However, I think you do a good job of establishing some sort of ryhtm and metre even though it's free verse, and so it's really hard to get past those lines without it.  Lines like "every action has an aim" or "I wonder why I wandered here" have some really lovely sounds to them, so it's a shame to see them pressed up against ho-hum conversational lines like "and what exactly I'm here for"

All the rest of the things I was going to say are in the same grain, so I'll stop talking here and leave you in peace.

Much deserved.