Aboard the Yacht Rachel
Tennis and Yoga!
By: Melissa de Haan Cummings - Jul 26, 2015
Aboard the Yacht Rachel
Wake to a dreary chilly dark
indicating drizzle
Plan warmer clothing
for the sail with brother
daughter niece and
yet to meet very smart
fission scientist from Lyons
boyfriend of niece
Jeans possibly sneakers
tops which will fit under
and over one another
Practise hatha for a few
and begin to think maybe
no sail then what to fill
afternoon from one thirty
an hour on the bicycle
in the woods along
the wide way to Pigeon Cove
and the grassy road
along Woodbury Hill
then take a chihuahua amble
back through Dogtown
on the narrow ways
with mushrooms and hills
There is wind and supposed
to be big waves
Find the three guests
in brother's driveway
site of our vacation home
since nineteen forty six
or eight shake Gregoire's
hand meet his friendly smile
hug daughter and niece
pile in to sister in law's
blue Volvo brother's too full
mostly books yard sale
discoveries bargains
sail now attached to boom
and gaff from its usual winter
on the back tan Volvo seat
Daughter Juliana stores
the three bags in the cabin
Instruct Greg to stay to starboard
prepare to haul the halyards
Becca says he loves to learn
unknown activities
instantly understands
the cleating process
Brother delights in explaining
the physics of sailing
equates sail to airplane wing
with its void which keeps
the plane elevated
Never knew the winds
around the sail held
emptiness somewhere
Never knew my attorney
sibling knew that
Point to a speedboat
climbing and tumbling into
the leftover storm sea
with great spraying
of ocean
Greg learns to steer
fondling Rebecca's calves
and feet
As she does his
so natural comfortable
likeable
We're going to live in Zurich
and get a dog
and name him Roger
In French or in English?
Mel can you teach us some
yoga stretches for the hips?
Sure Put your soles together
Draw them to your groin
Bend forward to put
your head on the floor
Greg can do that
Maybe it isn't the hips
May be the hip flexors
I can show you some for that
From the Essex River
attorney daughter
asks for help with a legal
issue
We love that
She carefully lays before us
how the husband continued
to carry his ex wife on his
insurance for ten years
after they both remarried
thus defrauding the commonwealth
which paid three quarters
of the insurance cost
She demanding attention
and serious contribution
of thought with
Do you want to help me
Or no?
We did We did
Niece and I finally hit upon
the amount of the state's suit
being the cost of the risk
assumed over the decade
Then Rebecca was anxious
to include punishment
for the fraud
brother to include
taxes and interest
Greg happily learning
legal vocabulary as Juliana
re explained the situation
delighted to have accomplished
some work during her weekend
Let Greg pick up the blue lines
to the mooring buoy
with the boat hook
Dinner at the yacht club
to which Becca insists
that Auntie wear tights
not the Fifteen Dollar Marshall's
Jeans however styling despite
lack of High End Label
Pull sleeveless gym top
halfway down my tusch
hoping Becca doesn't notice
the too fails to reach the bottom
Juliana took a pretty white blouse
from the innards of her SUV
with three strings of silver beads
wishing for a warm sweater
refusing my offer of a yacht club
fleece with If I wanted to wear
something ugly I'd wear my own!
Becca had a strapless blue
she kept yanking up
Greg and Rick button shirts
Greg looking parfait slim
tight bodied elegant
Rick with his You're gonna
be dead a long time Belly
Tease Juliana there are two
types of kayak paddle
She remains in hot denial
having only last Friday
taken a course in Cohasset
during which they capsized
had someone right the vessel
and hold it steady while
remounting with such difficulty
the backs of her legs turned up
black and blue while sunning
in Northhampton with her girl
Rebecca and Gregoire
where they all famously
helped her buy a Kayak Hat
which she carefully explained
has to have a ribbon tight
under the chin lest it be lost
during capsizal
And they bought
BERT AND I laughing
all the way home
to childhood memories
So the youthful waiter
came up with the dread
second style of kayak paddle
right on his cell phone
blades at angles
to each other
Denial impossible
Loss of case
Greg draws an imaginary
map of France on the tablecloth
showing Lyons Marseilles Zurich
Sharing stories of The Albatross
a French school boy poem
contrasting its magnificence
in flight with boys bullying
the bird on the ground
Greg points out the
metaphor for the poet
Rick who wrote that poem
about the albatross?
Coleridge
strangling the lucky bird
strangling the wind also
"...a painted ship
upon a painted ocean..."
And the double eagle
in golf called albatross
I shall leave the tennis
racquets and some balls
on a bench inside my door
Just come in and take them
If necessary remove
whatever piles of clothes
may be on top
And we must share the yoga
poses to stretch Greg's
running hips although overstretch
means less joint protection
Greg is teaching Rebecca
to lean forward while running
down mountains on which
they ran a five mile course
And plan a half marathon
somewhere in Europe
where they plan an apartment
in Zurich visa forthcoming
Should the visa take time
Rebecca will visit sister Betsy
for a month in Australia
where she is a horse veterinarian
and student of farrier black smithery
Walk up the new wide ramp
to the cars discussing
French theater
Mosquitoes remind me of
Les Mouches
Those are flies
Same thing
Who wrote that?
Beckett?
Non
Sartre
Huis Clos?
Oui Sartre
Didn't Greg and Becca
see and adore
Waiting for Godot?
I saw it too
at Haverford College
in about Nineteen Sixty
See you soon!
We leave the thirty first!
Hope we meet before that!
Tennis and yoga!