I started to write a post about it, but my thoughts kept arranging themselves in a way that feels more conducive to a prose poem. I know fuck all about meter, and I'm not here to rhyme, but I hope you enjoy what might be the first original poem (non-Greasetruck/Yojo version) published here.
I walked by myself on the Brewster FlatsWhich are singular enough to be capitalized
Receding tide pulling water in channels
Towards the open bay
My feet sank in the oozing pinkpurple sand
As I passed hermit crabs, fiddlers, gulls and
The occasional periwinkle, their trails tracing
A direct line from my childhood to my now
In front of me, the sweep of the Cape
From Orleans to Provincetown
The familiar bodybuilder's pose
Clear in the hot noontime air
In front of me, too, the moment
Three weeks from now when I driveHome from Richmond
With one fewer passenger than before
Our house won't be seem as lively,
Won't be as profanely silly after
We drop our little girl off at college
To start her life without us
She's going to find her people there
Just like I found mine
Hers will know more of the world around them
And they'll be hers forever, too
Dr. Seuss said 'Don't cry because it's over,
Smile because it happened'
I'm going to cry anyway, because I do that these days
Tears mean you're moved
And my little grown-up girl moves me every day
Let’s set that puppy to music and make it a new Random Idiots single. Speaking of freshman halls and your people.
ReplyDeletePut it on a mix tape with Joni Mitchell's 'The Circle Game" and you'll cry like a baby all the way home.
ReplyDeleteNice. Channeling your inner Raymond Carver through the spirit, and spirits, of Bukowski.
ReplyDeleteDon't go gently into that good Labor Day, Rob. Well done.
ReplyDeleteRhett Miller loves Raymond Carver. "What We Talk About" by the Old 97's a straight-up pull.
ReplyDeleteI love Bukowski’s. They have a wheel of beer!
ReplyDeleteHey Whit, that's cool to know about Miller.
ReplyDeleteCarver's better known for his short stories, but I enjoy his poetry. Crams a lot of love and ache and life into simple, yet detailed, observations and situations. A personal fave:
https://allpoetry.com/My-Daughter-and-Apple-Pie
Good stuff Roberto.
ReplyDeleteI assume Teedge got a pair of these the moment they dropped.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.crocs.com/KFC.html
Turns out if you’re lazy and have to return something to Amazon, you can just drop it at a Kohl’s. It’s a pretty sweet process, except you have to go to a Kohl’s.
ReplyDeleteI’ve done it many times, TR. and Kohl’s gives you a coupon.
ReplyDeleteI cried. When I read your poem as well as when I dropped our oldest daughter Ally at school. Well done and good luck.
ReplyDeleteFor what it’s worth I was jamming Zep I at the time and Communication Breakdown was playing. So there’s that.
Good shit Rob.
ReplyDeleteHello Gheorghies. Went out for some dinner and beers outside at our local Biergarten that just opened for the first time in 4 months last week. Figured we should take advantage since, apparently, COVID isn’t enough and I have to now deal with a very active hurricane season. At least I’ll have basketball while I’m stuck inside this weekend.
ReplyDeleteNetflix’s Fear City doc is a pretty fun 2.5 hours.
ReplyDeleteYes it is. A little heavy on the audio surveillance time but I get why.
ReplyDeleteWeather is absolutely gorgeous here today. Gonna have some beers by the pool before I have to hunker down tomorrow. Oh, and Christian Pulisic is fucking amazing.
ReplyDeleteThat storm is gonna foul up baseball playoffs for us early next week. Stupid pandemic hurricanes.
ReplyDeletei can’t believe mark broke pulisic
ReplyDeleteI am the new mush. And I feel terrible about it.
ReplyDeletePoignant poem, Rob. I cried, too. Not a good measure really bc I cry at everything. Will be thinking of y’all as your kids go to school.
ReplyDeleteOur oldest is a senior this year and got notice of appointment for his senior portraits. Already starting to lose it. Gonna be a long year! Not to mention all the more so because how upside down the world is right now.
Hope OBX Dave is ready for storm - sure glad we were in Hatteras last week and not now!
Stay safe and well y’all!
sweet poem.
ReplyDeletedr. Seuss also said some other things that we can't mention here.
grinch who stole xmas doing thirty to life,
sent to the slammer now he's bubba's wife
Anyone who misses their kid(s) can borrow either or both of mine. I’ll even cover their expenses.
ReplyDeleteThere are ten rising 5th graders and four rising 7th graders in my backyard right now, watching Spaceballs on an inflatable screen. With the movie started, wife and I have decided cocktails are acceptable. My 11 y/o was bummed a video truck wouldn’t work in this environment, but the movie turned out to be a home run. Every joke with cursing is SLAYING this crowd.
ReplyDeleteyou're serving cocktails to 9-12 year-olds? and here i was thinking i was out on a limb letting my 16 and 18-year olds have a couple of trulys with their friends while we were on vacation.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I should have. My wife ordered a ginormous cake, and the kids were jacked up on that, soda and juice boxes. The cocktails helped us chill. I think my wife also pursued alternative relaxation techniques. After cleaning the house all day, she earned it.
ReplyDeletemy son Alex is involved in a very weird triathlon. you may have read about his biking adventure. he did the swimming portion friday. this is what happens when soccer is canceled due to the pandemic. and it's not in the parenting manual . . .
ReplyDeletehttps://sentenceofdave.blogspot.com/2020/08/if-your-friends-jumped-off-bridge-you.html