Water Over Time

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I started to write Water Over Time in 2010 after a trip my husband, Dave, and I took to Guam. I wanted to record a memoir of poems, short prose, and pictures of my time there. Below is a description taken from the back of my book.

One day I am sitting cross-legged in front of the TV swooning over Davy Jones and the Monkees with my best friend, Darlene. The next day my mother, sister, and I are flying thousands of miles overseas to the tiny island of Guam to join my father in the Civil Service.

Guam: no TV, no Monkees, no Star Trek, no McDonald’s, and no mall. No telephones either. I was thirteen. How was I going to survive? My older sister, Nan, was having a conniption fit. And my hair? Complete frizz from the humidity. And just to make matters worse, my parents enrolled us in Catholic school. Two Jewish girls in parochial school? I was a wreck.

I was a wreck until the day I ventured out behind our house in Talofofo. That changed everything. I found the beach. I never lived so close to a beach before. The ocean was warm as a bath tub and protected by surrounding reef so there were no scary waves. I could lose myself for hours swimming, collecting shells and coral, or just dreaming in the sun. It was summer all the time. The beaches of Guam saved me.

The first poem in the book refers to our first house on the island. After years of typhoons and tropical storms much of the house had been destroyed.

Water Over Time

All I know now
is what I remember

Forty years
have swallowed
my house

Mold on concrete
is hard to remove
easier to build anew

In the mom and pop
across the street
I bought cigarettes
for 35 cents

A proud clerk
tells me this was
the first store
in Talofofo

Too young
for cigarettes
too old for
lollipops

I peer
through bamboo reeds
afraid to go inside

Water over time
is sacred

If you wish follow the link to order the book from Amazon or contact me for a signed copy. Thank you.