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SLEEPING UNDER A BOAT
Private Notes
Private Notes
Notes
Sleeping Under A Boat
Hitchhiking through southern France and northern Italy
Age 21, Somewhere in Northern Italy, 1965
-- This is one poem, in an autobiographical series of poems, I posted here at WriteSpike. Go to my stories section for others. They are in chronological order. --
Having nowhere to sleep
we ended up underneath
an overturned fisherman's boat
on some beach in northern Italy
cold and tired we fit together
in our clothes
and although we kissed
it was really our exhaustion
that held us
it was two days later
in Naples that the trouble started
when we took our clothes off
and something between us was gone
not lovers and no longer friends
you were clinging to me
and mocking me at the same time
and I could not desert you
later when you followed me to Paris
then ran off to London
with the only set of keys to a borrowed apartment
I wished we'd never met
and yet that first two days together
hitchhiking through the south of France
I still remember moment by moment:
the one-armed driver
who passed cars while lighting a cigarette,
the Germans who almost totaled their car,
the hot sand and blue of the Mediterranean at Cannes,
the man who delighted in driving us slowly
through Monaco at sunset
and then the morning
after we slept on the beach
when the fishermen were angry at first
that we had used their boat for shelter
but delighted when we showed them
how to body surf
so they fed us a breakfast
of espresso and sweet Italian pastries
I have savored this for 40 years
and that was worth all of your turmoil
Comments
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I love how different traveling was "back in the day" and how raw your experiences are
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Having nowhere to sleep we ended up underneath an overturned fisherman's boat on some beach in northern Italy
I love the way this flows. It's so beautiful. This definitely puts me back at this moment with these individuals.-
The exhaustion was our environment at that moment -- 36 hours on the road with no sleep.
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and then the morning after we slept on the beach when the fishermen were angry at first that we had used their boat for shelter
The imagery here. You're an amazing writer. You could definitely write your own series, or movie.-
I am so pleased that my writing can evoke clear pictures -- as I wanted to mix reality with emotions.
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not lovers and no longer friends you were clinging to me and mocking me at the same time and I could not desert you
This is so sad and so real. Something that can happen easily in a relationship without realizing it immediately. The way you phrased it is so perfect.-
She was both needy and disdainful at the same time. All of that was new to me.
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the one-armed driver who passed cars while lighting a cigarette
Wow! LOL! That would definitely be an unforgettable sight! Love this one and the way it ends. Thanks for sharing!-
He was the nicest man and very matter-of-fact. I believe he had lost his arm in the war.
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One aspect of hitchhiking was that your senses were heightened and things were more intense.