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“the intent of this blog is to incrementally build a body of thought that works toward integrating various topics, yoga, fitness, and the arts – it’s a process…”
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“galveston in the 21st century, in three parts” – original poetry, art, photography
Site Areas
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my first poem of the year, this fifth month, of our last year in galveston
[ updated 08.11.19 ]
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Galveston in the 21st Century, in Three Parts
my first trip to galveston
from my first trip from houston with my parents and younger brother, creeping down hwy 3 past hamlets now grown into hustling cities sprawling mid-way back to houston –
up broadway’s final slope to gain the high ground of the seawall
my four year old eyes first saw the now gone mile-long stretches of clean beach
i saw the relentless calling-waves of the gulf, the breeze immediate
i was imprinted with remembrance
i was awakened to my desires
i returned, year to year,
and only just knew
i now carried it
inside me
always
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our last stay in galveston
cranes and pelicans
hawks and sea gulls
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they see the island, residents
have forgotten
yet
is always here
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storm-rebuilds abound
seawall enhancements
new sand, new rock groins groaning
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shells re-gutted to rebuild the past –
the flagship hotel
hosting families lovers kids and strangers since
i first came here half a century ago
a shell since last hurricane…no
rebuilding the stucco walls
with mermaids
this time
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‘stead
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a memory-remnant, from before the seawall, ferris
wheels – fun across the water when casual was
a light full suit, top hats and pants – and
sunscreen
was wire mesh or lace…
back then 😉
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now
drivers crawl for parking spaces by the sea as
specks of pelicans v-line the sky
searching streaking lines of food swimming
below
the moving lapping surface
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the water’s waves rise and fall in chops as sea gulls
swish and sway and stay aloft
currents of air and water change bathing
babies babes and better halves behaving
cautiously, the foreign feel of movement,
salted air, all around their swim-
trunked bodies –
caressing skin unexpectedly, un-shyly…
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hawks hold back, riding the sandbar’s salty seagrass edge for tiny prey
praying the last lands of food aren’t once again swallowed
by a searching sea
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everyone remembers this is
borrowed land
the sands shifting seamlessly south
the beach huts and houses rising falling with
relentless winds of timeless changing
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the pelicans know, were
here before the coast cracked to create
the sandbar Lafitte found so
appealing
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the cranes say they’ll return and see
what’s left
next winter, other
places to go things to see
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the people know too
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the sea calls, but the sea takes
back
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to live in galveston is to
visit
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we’re “remembered” by the wind we are
we are but visitors
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even back, on houston’s higher drier ground
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so we breathe, we breathe
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the sea breeze-trails sink memories
from the air
into
every cell
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we are aloft too
that way…
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goodbye galveston
i’ve cupped your stars so seldom seen in houston
i’ve rinsed my hair in salt spray licked by waves of green
i’ve seen a thousand sunsets across the bay
as gorgeous as the carribean
i’ve heard your whispers along the rocks stretching fingers
of stone walkways from the beach
and i’ve heard your warnings that only change changes –
hurricanes return, the sunrise rises, the sea birds fish the day
and lovers sense softness beneath their feet, each night, along the crawling shoreline
their breath is the same breath they breathe in from the darkened night
their hearts beat with tides tied to moons and moods and amore
none of this will i miss – it rests, knowing, within me
reminding me, feeding me
i carry you
always, all ways, all the way
back home…
© felipe adan lerma, 2011
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views of galveston
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My Galveston Fiction (short stories)
At the Beach
Love Before the Fourth of July
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Related Amazon Search & Products
Galveston Island Amazon search
https://amzn.to/31EBY1X
Images are links! 😊
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Related articles
[ Updated 02.28.21 & 08.11.19 ]
2019
Aging Gracefully – A Creative History : My Blog Feb 2011 – Jul 2019
2011
Texas to Vermont – Have Yoga, Will Travel (Preparations) (yoga-adan.com)
“Galveston Island Nights” – original poetry
Adan

Twitter / Instagram / FB @FelipeAdanLerma
Amazon Author Page – https://amzn.to/2YpgyUf
Fine Art America (FAA, Pixels) – https://felipeadan-lerma.pixels.com/
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INTEGRATING YOGA FITNESS AND THE ARTS
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Very nice!!! It’s hard to go back
To places when they change from what we remember. We can only keep the memories and embrace the changes! Thanks for sharing this!!!! Lori
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💕
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nice photo-writeup about galveston, best wishes on your mission, a great task, thank you 😉
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