white sand crunches as i walk
deserted beach of bamboo huts
it is quiet except for crabs scuttling
under wooden boats, painted bright
i relish the lazy morning blue
a vacation to my birthplace, and family
reunion to honor a matriarch's 80th birthday
an opportune time to spend the last days of 1999
before the clock starts the countdown,
before the papers on my desk pile high,
before days become four seasons and cold,
before nights turn purple and restless,
i amble along the sandbar, white and empty
just like the coconut thatched rooms, bare
essentials, yet I have what I need: scenic views,
dad's funny tales, mom's stories, enough to fill pages
of children's books we never got to read,
not even the millennium bugs in the narrow beds
bothered me, because the end of the world is coming, they said,
so I listen instead to the rolling waves in my sleep
soothing like the water rustling under the river slats, as
fish catch from the sea becomes our dinner or lunch, fresh
just fire, and leaves for aroma, and tropical fruits
even the goats and dogs join in for the feast,
like the two European bikers, with their backpacks,
eating with eager hands, while drying clothes in the sun
reaching to sample the simple joys of life in the road,
embracing the sun and wind in their travels, pulse
of the sea and land on sun-hued cheeks,
reconnected, refresh, beginning not ending,
i walk back to the wooden boat waiting for me.
Posted for D'verse Poets Pub: Poetics: 1999 : Sharing a wonderful memory of this vacation. I had to include the sea food as until now my sons remember the fresh taste of this catch. Thanks for the visit.
Picture credit: here
oh this makes me homesick for the sea...love that you included the sea food..can taste it..
ReplyDeleteBeautiful! Oh that one would always have a wooden boat waiting, one filled with memories of a special time. I like this very much, Grace.
ReplyDeleteah this is beautiful heaven, what a memory and your descriptions take us right there too...i so miss my house by the ocean...i long to return to it one day....you captured much of the textures for me...
ReplyDeleteThis sounds so wonderful. You made me feel like I was there.
ReplyDeleteThis is lovely and flowing, like gentle waves. This section, in particular, grabbed ahold of me and wouldn't let go:
ReplyDelete"before days become four seasons and cold,
before nights turn purple and restless,
i amble along the sandbar, white and empty
just like the coconut thatched rooms, bare
essentials"
So good, Grace.
Wow such a great scene and yeah have to love nearing the ocean. Unless it's hurricane season, then maybe not so much.
ReplyDeleteReminds me of our beach walks, there is something so right about sharing a connection with mother nature, especially near water.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful write Grace.
RYN: I lived in the UK at the time that Puzzle came out, not sure where else it sold but, yes, was quite something :)
I could hear the waves rolling in and hissing into the sand. You painted such a wonderful picture here. Very nice.
ReplyDeletehttp://charleslmashburn.wordpress.com/2012/03/10/someone-passed-by-today/
Sounds like a memorable occasion--good company, loved ones and a beautiful place to greet the new millennium with or without bugs. And the food was excellent, too--thanks for the taste.
ReplyDeletegreat imagery and descriptors
ReplyDeleteLovely memory. K.
ReplyDeleteI felt myself traveling along with you during this flashback. It was beautifully written, and I enjoyed reading it.
ReplyDeleteA poem like this makes me want to revisit 1999 !
ReplyDeleteOr maybe just take a trip to the beach with my fam next week. :)
Very nice...thanks for sharing the memory!
newviewfromhere.wordpress
This is a lovely detailed memory. Funny how certain memories attach themselves to us and never let go. Each person in my family has at least one food memory they occasionally recall. Really enjoyed sharing your vacation memory with you.
ReplyDeleteoh, I want to live there! Sounds as if you were in Heaven! I could see it all from your wonderful descriptions.
ReplyDeleteThis is simply marvelous, such an arrangement of peace and serenity in sound and image. Your underlying theme of connecting past and present is very subtly brought into play as it winds its way among pictures of reunion, celebration, commemoration. I found the following lines immensely enjoyable:
ReplyDeletebefore the clock starts the countdown,
before the papers on my desk pile high,
before days become four seasons and cold,
before nights turn purple and restless,
That adumbration of specifity among the coming year change, reverberates with meaning as they accumulate in their transience epitomizing the desire for endurance amidst inevitable change.
I'm following Charles remarks and agree completely with what he says. Your details put us in the place, let us smell, touch, taste and enjoy the beauty, the company, the relaxation, and the sense of becoming one with the earth and sea. Quite beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the fact that you were on a beach, away from all the frenzy and panic in the world... The following verses were meaningful to me:
ReplyDelete"yet I have what I need: scenic views,
dad's funny tales, mom's stories, enough to fill pages"
Just you, your family, a great starting point and imagination. That's all, you summarized it well.
Very nice memories, so different of then mine...Thank you for the visit and comment, good poem!
ReplyDeleteWander
Beautiful. You have captured that very unique sensual hypnotic power of the tropics..
ReplyDeleteonce known,never forgotten!
Wonderful capture, Grace.
ReplyDeleteThis is so nice and talks about a reconnection with things that are REALLY important in life. Interesting yout alked about the y2k bug- people spent so much time talking about 'what if's' and then nothing actually happened. I find we tend to do this in life- we hold ourselves back with 'what if's' instead of actually living. Thoughtful write indeed
ReplyDelete