Day by the lake
woke up ate babka at Mike’s parent’s house on the lake
with bagels and pike place starbucks coffee
‘it’s the original starbucks coffee at their first café’
head on down to Oswego harbor to meet mike’s dad
and his friend are retired from Fulton schools
they get the boat ready for hours the maiden voyage
of his new but ‘pre-owned’ or ‘gently-loved’ (as the case may be) sailboat
we go into town to get more coffee and bomb out the men’s john
back to the boat they are almost ready
Mike’s dad is a real man
we pull the boat out of the harbor with the outboard
and situate ourselves in the lake
no wind
the heat makes me break out and sweat and I feel nauseous
this is my first real sailing trip and I’m sick
I spend my time trying to not pay attention to anything
Mike’s dad keeps looking at the sky and saying ‘what are the tell-tales’
it’s clear all the way around with anvil looking clouds
but warnings of surprise thunderstorms that could flip the boat over
I watch the sky all day waiting for catastrophe or puking or both
but no such luck of anything no wind no nothing
there’s dark clouds around us at times forming different aspects in all directions
studying the weather as the day’s visible quantifier
all I normally never see in the Buffalo or care to heed
the blank and obvious information of the sky
what are the tell-tales telling us?
we turn the engine on to get the boat down the lake
to another harbor passing the three nuclear reactors next to an Audubon society reserve
Mike’s dad points out all the luxurious new homes
he knows where everyone lives
the retired cops, the slum lords, an ex-factory owner, the darkening sky
it ends in a light rain in catfish harbor with sunburns and still queasy
get in Becky’s car and charge it back towards Buffalo
past the spot I found a huge dead turtle the day before
and the resident gold finches great blues every time I turn around this weekend
I see various very dark storms along the thruway
trying to stay awake
hearing various radio reports about hail, rain and tornadoes
hit one heavy rain where one car was in a ditch
driving into Buffalo through a kid-filled neighborhood
in this trashed over world I get a powerful shiver for it
in my let's Rx the world t-shirt I imagine the swamps and forests
I get a one-second chill that wells up my eyes
and determine to write about it
see Eden in time for golf-ball sized hail
Mike calls me up to say his dad just shot a rabid raccoon
out of a tree down the street by the lake
