[4]
We are moving again.
[64]
Point Reyes:
Dad’s in the law enforcement phase
of his National Park Service career.
It’s an unhappy time,
but we have Heidi now.
She’ll be our only family dog.
I’m oblivious.
I’ll be four; already
we’ve moved from Ohio
to Hawai‛i to California.
Next year we return
to Hawai‛i. We’re saving
even change for our move.
My restlessness, my longing for the sea begins.
~*~
Andrew Shattuck McBride
NaPoWriMo ~ 2013 | My Day 19
May 5, 2013
Wonderful guest blog post on the Sue Boynton Poetry Contest blog re: Conversations Across Borders.
Wow, re: photo: there are four talented writers and poets!
Definitely worth a read!
Cheers, Andy
I escaped the deep-throttled, full-throated shriek
of this morning’s lawn service assault: compressors,
edgers & cutting tools, lawn mowers & blowers.
First, a hurried, modest, harried breakfast to abet
my escape: I supped on instant oatmeal, chomped
on a piece of stale bread toast draped with jalapeño
jack cheese, gulped (not sipped) my second cup
of instant coffee. Some assurance, then, of getting
through a few hours away from the empire of noise.
I, who mourn the passing of silence, I who hope
for rest & respite, seek peace & sustenance wherever
these might be found, begin here along this wooded trail.
You, hummingbird, with racing heart, begin here
too: you with the impossibly long, thin curved straw
of beak you don’t use as straw, you with tongue you
use to lap up nectar. You flit from shrub to shrub
down this trail ahead of me, so tiny, so full of heart
and the art of hum & dart, shimmer & pause. A blur
of wings, a hum & click down the trail. I trail behind,
rapt, pausing with your pauses to watch you & marvel,
you sussing out sustenance, seeking blossoms. I am
transfixed, utterly revealed to you. You shimmer
& hum & then you’re gone. I’ve lost you but not my
wonder. This last day of April I fear it’s too early
for blossoms here, along this trail’s wooded borders,
hope it’s not too early for peace & other sustenance.
~*~
Andrew Shattuck McBride
NaPoWriMo ~ 2013 | My Day 18
April 30, 2013
[22]
In December I graduate from college,
receive my B.A. in Political Science.
Unknowingly, I’ve prepared myself
for a running leap into unemployment.
[82]
My mistakes are catching up:
I’m an emotional and psychological wreck.
The highlight of my year is running
a half marathon. I want to keep running, but stop.
I have the strongest urge to flee.
Mom gives me a trip to the Mainland & a road trip
to visit our relatives on her side of the family.
I want to learn more about our family;
still, it must seem like repudiation to Dad.
I’m realizing slowly it’s a one-way ticket to exile.
~*~
Andrew Shattuck McBride
NaPoWriMo ~ 2013 | My Day 17
April 27, 2013
[18]
The toughest year.
Until November
I’m a minor.
This mitigates
my mistakes.
I want to say I’m sorry.
[78]
In the fall
(after my fall)
I’m off to college:
the University of Hawai‛i at Manoa.
I’m relieved
to be away from Dad’s house
& Charlotte.
I love the intellectual ferment,
books & ideas, dorm life & parties.
My mistakes pursue me;
I don’t realize this yet.
I will agonize, but not yet.
My failures
seem bitter;
my successes muted
because I’ll remember.
I’ll do well,
begin inauspiciously:
an A and three C’s.
Charlotte: Congratulations on the C’s.
~*~
Andrew Shattuck McBride
NaPoWriMo ~ 2013 | My Day 16
April 24, 2013
[16]
My 16th birthday:
Dad drives me
to the Post Office
to sign my
Selective Service
documents.
[76]
I sign; I’m an American
man, love my country.
It’s the law & an act of faith & love.
While “The Star-Spangled Banner”
sends tingles up & down my spine,
it’s “America the Beautiful” I love.
I thrill to Tall Ships, fireworks, our flag, & 200 years.
The United States makes mistakes,
will make mistakes.
(I’ll make mistakes.)
It’s not “my country,
right or wrong.”
It’s my country;
we must not rest —
we must fix wrongs.
~*~
Andrew Shattuck McBride
NaPoWriMo ~ 2013 | My Day 15
April 22, 2013
[25]
I called & woke Dad,
told him through
his astonishment
I had joined the Navy
would be a Sailor, too —
as he had been once.
[85]
It was unlike me:
in high school & college,
(after the Vietnam War debacle),
I’d scoffed at joining the service.
I told friends
in Air Force ROTC
the military wasn’t for me.
I’d be a Navy man.
Mom asked me
why I wasn’t an officer.
I hadn’t tested well,
needed a job, so enlisted.
Despite excellent
performance evaluations
& encouragement in applying
for officer programs,
I saw honor in being
an enlisted Sailor,
as Dad had been.
I served proudly,
loved & hated the Navy.
~*~
Andrew Shattuck McBride
NaPoWriMo ~ 2013 | My Day 14
April 22, 2013
