An Orchid-covered Kayak at Xochimilco

 

Preface to This Week’s Poem

 

During the summer of 1973, my sister and two of her friends enjoyed a trip to Europe.  Inspired by my sister’s adventures, I decided, after having taught for one school year, to plan a trip to another country–Mexico.  Although I was a “brave” twenty-three-year-old who initially expected to go on the tour alone, my older sister did accompany me for the holiday break spanning from the final week of 1973 to early 1974.  This trip marked my first travel by air and my only sojourn outside the United States.  I recall the two-week tour with fondness and appreciation for all that I experienced and learned.

 

Highlights of this tour of Mexico included the Palacio de Bellas Artes (Palace of Fine Arts where we saw the Tiffany glass curtain, the Ballet Folklorico, and the art galleries), Basilica of Guadalupe, Pyramids of the Sun and the Moon, Chapultepec Park, Alameda Park, El Zocalo (main plaza of Mexico City), the Anthropology Museum (where the Aztec calendar is displayed), and murals of Diego Rivera.  Outside the city, we visited Cuernavaca and the cobblestoned streets of Taxco.  Despite all the places of interest we toured, a mention of kayaks on Wisconsin Public Radio brought me back to Xochimilco, which inspired the poem at the end of this Wordwalk post.

 

Last evening, I shared this poem with one of my writers’ groups at our monthly critique session.  Our July session marked one year that the same five writers have gathered together to critique each other’s work.  Thanks to author and columnist Leonard Tuchyner who brought together are group of five writers!  Sharing suggestions, comments, and compliments about writing makes for a most interesting, inspirational, and educational evening.

 

 

An Orchid-covered Kayak

 

by Alice Jane-Marie Massa

 

 

On Wisconsin Public Radio,

I hear of the popularity,

the abundance of kayaks

on the waterways of Wisconsin.

 

Away from radio waves

and waves of Lake Michigan,

my mind drifts

to memories of Mexico,

where, in 1973,

at the Floating Gardens of Xochimilco,

I saw a kayak for the first time.

Floating languidly along side

our most touristy of boats

was a kayak covered with beautiful orchids.

Paddling the kayak

and selling the orchids to the turistas

was  an elderly Mexican woman

with the posture of a queen.

 

Instead of purchasing an orchid,

I let my camera memorize the moment

for a highlight of my carousel slide show

of my trip to Mexico.

 

Today, as usual,

I tend to my front porch garden

and the garden

behind my townhouse;

but my summer recollections wander back

to the December of more than four decades ago,

to the blanket of orchids displayed atop a kayak

at the Floating Gardens of Xochimilco.

 

 

Whether through memories or miles, enjoy your travels this summer!

Alice and Leader Dog Willow

 

July 26, 2017, Wednesday

 

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