Aboard the Dixie Lee II
Summer Storm Boat Sky - 1984
Baiting & Waiting
Fishers of Dudes
"Wanderer Two" heading in...
Sunnier Willoughby Daze - 1978
Have you taken
Ocean View's Nickel Tour? |
Harrison's Pier - Willoughby, VA 1980We went out on a head
boat and it rained,
torrents. Passengers shot
grins at one another
for what they had in common.
Captain Dave of the Harrison's
head boat Dixie Lee II was once
my neighbor so I surprised his wife
Tiny over her radio ashore. My Canon ate all the delicious
grays, grabbed
grimaces of those struggling
with bloodworms, snared moments
from the faces of friends, strangers
who couldn't be strange if
they tried.
I forgot all about the storm where
Dixie Lee had capsized several years
before; the first-hand
stories of narrow
survival on my own Willoughby Bay.
Though it rained its ass off, my kid
grumbled like the sky while most, laughing, huddled for
shelter under the canopy
of Dixie - I was
smug as Noah's old lady,
shooting the delighted and disgruntled alike.
There was an old couple wiping their brows,
weather daubed cheeks, causing me to blow
most of a roll for the fun they savored in the sky's
old crocodile tears. Their eyes shared so much, their chuckles assured me.
I didn't mind missing shots
of the horizon's rainbow later
(running short of film) I knew my son would appreciate their fun. He'd see the
prints and think.
When the sun shone my boy was placated as I baited his hooks.
All was smooth, no more film,
I enjoyed the fishing,
the bull-shootin' with Cap'n Dave,
the two dykes' story about AT&T, the disgust of a friend hooking
a blowtoad; but just can't wait
for those shots to come back
of the old man and his lady who radiated moreso than the rainbow.
I remind myself of my son:
anticipation
tarnishes the present. |
