Touchstone: Neruda, For Rudi

Here's another favorite poem from Pablo Neruda: "I have four dogs to declare" / "Declaro cuatro perros." His poem puts me into his sorrow, his attention, his wonder, his love, and this poem puts me into memories of my father, actually, and puts me into my own list of beloved creatures, mostly cats, beginning with Rudi, including Motley, China, Sam, Charlie, and others. Perhaps this poem will engage you and your sorrows--memories, creatures, losses--in a way that proves worthwhile, as I am engaged.

I will quote the poem in William O'Daly's English translation as well as Neruda's original Spanish.

I have four dogs to declare:

one is already buried in the garden,

two others keep me on my toes,

tiny wild

destroyers,

with thick paws and hard canines

like needles of stones.

And one scruffy dog,

aloof,

fair-haired in her gracious manner.

No one hears her smooth golden steps

or her distant presence.

She barks only late at night

at certain phantoms,

so that just a few chosen hidden persons

hear her on the roads

or in other dark places.

Declaro cuatro perros:

uno ya esta enterrado en el jardin,

otros dos me sorprenden,

minusculos salvajes

destructores,

de patas gruesas y colmillos duros

como agujas de roca.

Y una perra grenuda,

distante,

rubia en su cortesia.

No se sienten sus pasos de oro suave,

ni su distante presencia.

Solo ladra muy tarde por la noche

para ciertos fantasmas,

para que solo ciertos ausentes escogidos

la oigan en los caminos

o en otros sitios oscuros.

Neruda, Pablo. The Sea and Bells. Trans. William O'Daly. Port Townsend, WA: Copper Canyon Press, 1988.

On Deck: Flotsametrics! (Recommended Reading)

I've just started this book, but I'm finding it a fascinating read. The title and subtitle may be enough of a teaser and guide.

Ebbesmeyer, Curtis & Eric Scigliano. Flotsametrics and the Floating World: How One Man's Obsession with Runaway Sneakers and Rubber Ducks Revolutionized Ocean Science. New York: Harper Collins, 2009.

Annotations: Eugenie Clark

Clark, Eugenie. Lady with a Spear. New York: Harper & Bros., 1953.

When I was a boy, I'm fairly sure I had a crush on Eugenie Clark, photogenic female star of many underwater science segments. After reading her autobiography, I can also appreciate what a ground-breaking scientist she was--as a female, one of the lone females, in the very masculine world of marine biology. Her book presents her scientific research through the lens of adventure in the South Pacific. The many photographs of Eugenie Clark reminded me of that old schoolboy infatuation.

Quick Fiction: Oracle

ORACLE

"Treasure is where you find it!" Who said that? Mel Fisher? Amy Fisher? Captain Jack Sparrow? Blackbeard's ghost? He pulled out the pewter reproduction of the Spanish doubloon, meant as a memento of Sir Francis Drake's South American successes--piracies for his rogue queen. He checked the dull luster of the faux-coin against the gold ring on his left hand. His heart quickened at the sudden vision of galleons under siege, cannons firing, and fierce swordplay. "Heads, you win." He flipped the coin quite high. He caught it, checked it, flipped it again. And again. Again. Finally, he pocketed the oracle. He'd have to try his luck later.

Annotations: Chowdhury & Clark

Chowdhury, Bernie. The Last Dive: A Father and Son's Fatal Descent into the Ocean's Depths. New York: Harper Collins, 2000.

A detailed document of a tragedy, psychological profiling, and clear-eyed descriptions of diving, salvaging, and aquatic adventure . . . and yet I can never keep the specific details of the book in my mind. Perhaps the father/son issues are too close to home for me, though I don't think so. I'm glad I read the book, and yet I guess I need to reread it.

Clark, Eleanor. The Oysters of Locmariaquer. New York: Harper, 2006.

I love this book, and I even learned to love oysters after reading it. While I prefer more localized books for this project, I enjoyed learning the French history and processes of oyster-farming. Clark writes lyrically at times, and her more everyday paragraphs still sing. I love reading practical material, but I really love practical material in a clear, individual style, with a voice that sounds like itself, not like anyone else, and yet that uniqueness is an invitation, not a barrier, to go deeper and further into the subject. Am I gushing too much?

Annotations: Patagonia's Chouinard

Chouinard, Yvon. Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman. New York: Penguin, 2005.

Chouinard is the founder and CEO of Patagonia, the climbing/sports-equipment/clothing company that specializes in good relations between management and employees, between consumers and what's consumed, between humanity and the Earth. Here, Chouinard provides the history of the company from the first climbs and the first ironmongery offered for sale, even as he clarifies the philosophy, radical as it is, that a capable, competitive company and happiness really may go hand in hand in (corporate) America. A blueprint of sorts, a philosophical treatise, certainly: I've used sections of this book with students in the past. Chouinard tells stories well, and he has the stories well worth sharing.

A real adventure narrative, and yet all business, too, in the best sense.

Postcard: Rocky Points at Random

1. At Rodeo Beach today, the surf was churning enough that I kept getting pebbles dropped into my snorkel. The first time, I swallowed one or two rocks, but managed not to choke. (Frankly, I was laughing hard enough to endanger myself.) After that, I kept to proper snorkel etiquette, not relying on the blast-at-the-surface method, but purging while returning to the surface, using physics, expanding air bubbles, and a vertical tube to clear the debris! Rocks in my snorkel! (I'm still amused.)

2.I went to bed with some ambition and a Monterey plan, but I ended up sleeping in and going to Rodeo Beach in Marin to practice beach landings and rough water-work with the kayak. It was near high tide and rough enough that I swam instead. I put on mask and fins and swam for about 40 minutes, and then decided to try with the kayak. While I was getting ready, the swell subsided and I could have launched. Then, the swell picked back up, the kayak launching seemed too unwieldy, and so I swam instead. Repeat again. Surf-cycle.

3. Yesterday: beachcombed Drake's Bay and McClure's Beach in Point Reyes. The offshore wind kept me from kayaking; I didn't want to fight the wind getting back to base or fail and drift off into the Pacific. Lunch in Bolinas. Scrimshaw at the Pub; late swim workout at the pool. Laundry. Full day, all told.

4. Drake's Bay yesterday morning: closeouts with feathery whitecaps. Only one line of surf at a time just up and dumping at about one foot of depth. Pretty, but not rideable. Not even a whitewater rush for a boogie boarder. McClure's Beach was a cauldron; I wanted to play with my kayak out there, but it looked a little scary and the portage from the parking lot was too demanding. Lots of energy in the water, but not much length to the rides. I should have swam, otter-style!

5. Drake's Bay can be weird because the steep bluffs block the wind on most of the beach, but once you move out beyond the shelter of the bluffs, then you are at the whim of the wind. Looking back to this morning, there weren't many whitecaps out beyond the surfzone, so maybe the funnel effect of this break in the bluffs fooled me into thinking it was too fierce a wind for paddling. Maybe. At the other stops, the wind helped me into a jacket . . . and Sofia, my Ocean Kayak Scrambler 11, is built for diving and rough water, not for cutting or cruising. I was tempted, nonetheless.

6. The photo illustration? Actually, that's Monterey Bay, further south, and I'm in the kayak, though today and yesterday off Marin, I never quite ended up in the kayak out on the water. Tomorrow I will pick up the film I shot this past week, so perhaps there will be a more fitting photo.

Green Dreams: Monterey Bay Beckoning