Day 17: Family

Challenge 17: “Write a poem re-telling a family anecdote that has stuck with you over time.”

To the sea

To set the scene:

The train left the station.
On August 9th, 7 pm, as every year.
Our family in one compartment
with triple bunk beds.
We are four but we manage.
We’re going to the sea!
Our village awaits
in Dalmatia, Croatia.
No bar or ice-cream.
One basic shop.

In the next compartment
another family of four
travelling companions.
And then another.
I believe we have peopled
the entire carriage with our friends.
The ride will take
the whole evening, night and morning.
Then the ferry.
Then the fishing boat.
Then the village.
Our mountain looks down.
Crazy Slovenians are back.

But now it’s only 7.20.
The first stop of our train.
It’s a sign.
We sit down and attack
our carefully prepared dinner:
Boiled eggs.
Vienna-style steaks.
Bread.
Gherkins.

The oldest son
of the neighbours
rushes by
peeks in
stops in his tracks
runs to his compartment
and is heard to proclaim loudly
to his family members:

“What a great time
Mexi Movie family
is having!”

Photos are from our destination right there. The mountain is Sv. Ilija which I finally climbed in 2009 when I was there for the last time, but not with my parents. We stopped going together in 1990. The village is Duba. The peninsula is Pelješac. I couldn’t do it now.