I became hooked more than 30 years ago, the first time I encountered his poems in The Carrier of Ladders. It was beautiful, stunning, strange. Sad to hear Merwin has moved on. As for the rest of us, well …
We continue
by W S Merwin For Galway Kinnell
The rust a little pile of western color lies At the end of its travels Our instrument no longer.
Those who believe In death have their worship cut out for them. As for myself we Continue
An old Scar of light our trumpet Pilgrims with thorns To the eye of the cold Under flags made by the blind In one fist
Their letter that vanishes If the hand opens: Charity come home Begin.
(This is my last installment in El Gringo Feo’s Costa Rica Diary. I left sooner than planned due to family issues and realized I’d never posted this final entry. If you want to read El Gringo Feo from the beginning, start here.)
October 26, 2018 — Sadness at leaving. No howlers this morning. Even the agouti is scarce. But as I’m feeling sorry for myself, a blue morpho butterfly drifts past. I’ve seen them only 8 or 10 times in the 3 months I’ve been here. An omen? The skies are blue. Well, at least by Uvita rain-season standards, and I had an incredible pasta dinner at Gian and Sara’s last night, including time to play with Misha and her Kong toy. I was the human Kong.
There are tears in my eyes as I depart. Uvita has been good to me. I’ll be back. Thanks to Jeff and Lauri for trusting me to keep an eye on the place for the past three months.
Later, while killing time in the tourist shops at the airport, I spot a gorgeous blue morpho butterfly dried and mounted for display. It supposedly was “farm raised.” Whatever the fuck that means. I decide to pass. Having a dead one hanging on the wall just seems so weak compared to seeing a real one whirling through the wild.
While I’m standing in the passport control line at the airport in San Jose, I notice a guy in front of me is wearing a Penguins shirt.
¡Vamanos Pens! I yell.
He spins around and instantly starts talking about last night’s game. He’s going to a game on Tuesday night. I ask him where he’s going.
Columbus. Same as me.
Turns out he’s heading down to the infamous Athens Halloween party. He had a place in Chillicothe for a while but it wasn’t doing it for him so now he’s trying Costa Rica.
Small world indeed.
A blurry photo of the perpetual motion that is Misha
The bananas still weren’t ready when I left, but it was fun watching them emerge.Gratuitous flower photoGratuitous flower photo
