We had staked out our spot
Before noon along the Upper Mississippi
With blankets, board games, and books
Baskets of spicy BBQ, eggy potato salad, and broccoli cole slaw
A cooler of lucious lemonade and salted watermelon
Waiting for dark and fireworks
In the lazy hours before nightfall
We welcomed visitors, friends and strangers,
sharing our baskets and games
and laughter
Some took short walks
To the Stone Arch Bridge
To watch the Marcy Homes parade
Of costumed kids riding bikes
With bright ribbons in their spokes
Or pulled in festooned red wagons
With signs celebrating
Their privileged freedom,
Some took long walks to see
Free Shakespeare in the Park
Gathering new friends along the way
Well worth the price
Whoever couldn’t take the heat
Rode the trolley to the movies
To relish in conditioned air
We feasted together
And separately
Close enough to watch the woodchucks playing along the banks
And see the boats passing St. Anthony Falls
Where the dam unlocked the waters so they could pass through
But we were not the first to see the lone small boat
Stuck at a bend before the Falls
Until the helicopter hovered above them
Then we saw
Two people – a couple –
Perched at the wrong point
Where any moment
They could be towed under
Someone had a radio
So we could hear how
The two boaters were
Not following directions
As rescuers tried to save them
We missed the long drama but
We witnessed the miracle
Of two squirming bodies rising into the sky
On lifelines
Like new life
Plucked from the wombs of death
Trailing umbilicals
After the celebration
And the anticipated sparkling display
Painting that night sky
We hurried home
To learn the woman was John’s sister
And her husband
Both deaf to our world
And their danger
I waited for John to write the story
crafty in his clever voice
so I could feel his sister’s every fears
and share her exhilarating joy
as she became the celebration
we saw against the sky
But he only told us how
They’d come to see the fireworks
And bask below the silent glow
Of liberation
before getting caught by the waterfall
When we came again to camp
along the river
and wait for the night,
owners had built barriers to keep
spectators
from their private lawn
we found a spot on.a small hard hill
but could not see the woodchucks
or even the shore;
we could not walk to Shakespeare
on the other side of the fence
nor could we find the trolley
hidden behind that curtain
of privilege;
there was no space to welcome strangers
inside our laughter,
now strained and contained
we ate sparingly without gusto
and left before dark
with half full baskets
knowing we’d already seen the best
of freedom
riding across the sky
we never came again
What a story caught within these lines! The wonderful sense of coming together in celebration (my mouth was watering at the food!) and then the heart-stopping liberation of the folk trapped on their boat but being lifted, rescued, in a moment akin to rebirth. The image of their rising into the sky like some of the celebratory fireworks will stay in my imagination.
This is so layered and rich. I love the nuance and the way the space, the day, the mood, are all conveyed.
I enjoy the pictures painted throughout the first two-thirds of the poem; and then my heart hurts with the final act
I’ve been sitting here at my keyboard, wondering if I’d suggest removing the third act because it drags the poem from happy & drama & the rescue & positivity into sadness and disappointment…
One part of me thinks this poem deserves to leave the reader with the sense of unity and the rescue of people that the writer was connected to in this small world where we’re all connected…
Then another part of me thinks this poem has to go all the way and take us to the dark places where reality sucks and one person who isn’t “with” us can ruin unity for the rest of us…
But I don’t want the poem ruined!
I love the layers and senses and the hopefulness in seeing the couple rescued and then learning that they were connected to the writer…the selfish side of me doesn’t want that overshadowed.