Here’s a piece previously un-blogged, having lain in the portfolio for almost 10 years after attending a National Writing Project annual meeting in 2003.
Utterly Away by the Bay
November/December 2003
(At Pier 39, San Francisco Bay)
Praise God, the Creator of San Francisco Bay!
hard to write
with numb fingers–
blustering, breeze
chilled fingers.
dreaming poems
to express pictures
worth far more than
a thousand words
to tell all the
sights
sounds
tastes
sensations
I want to write
but can’t
with blue fingers
crammed deep
into jeans pockets
and breath
stolen utterly away
by the Bay.
Oh, for warm fingers,
to grasp a pen
to paint words
to draw sound
to color creation
and more—
to name
wisps of sea spray
the blueness of the sky
gulls circling, alighting, riding on dark blue waves
a tempestuous choir of sea lions, barking a noisy cantata
the stark, solid Rock—Alcatraz—rising from the Bay across the way
and most intriguing,
how the Golden GateBridge disappears into rusty hills on the distant shore.
in short, I want
to grasp a pen
with warm fingers
to memorialize
this moment in time
for a small town boy a long way from home
with eyes wide open in amazement
with blue fingers
crammed deep
into jeans pockets
and breath
stolen utterly away
by the Bay.
I remember that beautiful NWP trip! What I would give for blue fingers on this extremely hot day!
Yes, here’s to longing for blue fingers! Thanks for commenting.