Tripping Along to the Museum
(Hour 2 2021 Half Marathon)
We walked along the metal pier
To the museum
That looked like a crashed space ship
The sky was caramel
A perfect day for fishing
At sunrise
This pier had a metal fence topped with barbed wire
With signs that said no fishing
I didn’t have my rod with me
So it didn’t really matter
My grandfather
Used to take us out fishing
To the wooden pier near his house
My brothers, cousins and me
He taught us how to hold the rod
How to spin the reel
And not feel depressed
If we didn’t catch anything
He was teaching us the process
Of patience
I feel those muscles
Exercised
As I walk along this pier
Taking my own kids
To the museum
Where they can see
Pictures of fish
And sea mammals
But I am consumed
By the caramel sky
With streaks of blue
And colors beyond definition
Thinking of how my grandfather
Would perfectly place my hands on the rod
So it would feel comfortable
For long hours of catching nothing
Getting there before the sun would rise
Watching the sun cross the sky
And finally disappear
Beyond the horizon
When my grandfather
Would finally call it a day
Very visual – I can see the sky – caramel; sunrise; streaks of blue; calling it a day. And the lovely irony of not having a fishing pole. But most of all, the symmetry between your memory and the present adventure. The palpable patience that runs through the poem. Thank you.
Thank you for your generous comments. I think that the picture that I wrote this for inspired this poem and I was trying to follow along with the photo.
This is a multi-layered piece in which every layer is a love letter to your grandfather, your children, the land. I was struck, hard, by “As I walk along this pier/Taking my own kids/To the museum/Where they can see/Pictures of fish/And sea mammals.” The implication here that the only way our children and grandchildren will be able to see these beings is in museums in images, really hit my heart. So, too, did the barbed wire and metal in the place where you and your family found wooden docks in your youth.
Rich, soulful, gut wrenching. Thank you for sharing.