I was two hundred miles from home when I realized I left a new friend behind in a town I first met more than thirty years ago. We went there, my new friend and I, with my children, in search of a young man who became an American Literary Legend.
Emma, Samuel and I went to Angel's Camp, California this weekend to discover more about the place where Samuel Clemens first became Mark Twain. I knew a little bit about jumping frogs and I knew the city from driving through there when I attended nearby University of the Pacific, but I never took the time to become intimate with Angel's Camp. I would say this weekend I fell in love with the city and found a whole new respect to American Literature legend, Mark Twain.
The last laugh came, though, when I decided for our final moments in Angel's Camp we would go to the city park where there is a beautiful old-style statue of the man Samuel Clemens would become: Mark Twain. I took it one step further: I wanted to include in those photos my Purple Whale Poetry Stand I had just finished for the Visible Poetics Poetry Celebration a week earlier.
That whale had brought me so much joy after I lost the original poetry stand.
It seemed like the perfect opportunity for some more poetic fun and celebration.
We took photos of her with folks who came to the Visible Poetics closing celebration. People posed with the whale, loving her as much as I did doing an impromptu performance of "I never saw a purple cow" which I changed, for the night, to "I Never Saw a Purple Whale".
After all, the Purple whale celebrated my 49th birthday with me, traveling across the valley of Central California to the Coast and enjoying the day at Montana del Oro.
We took photos, I wrote, the kids giggled at the contrast of the purple poetry whale and the 19th Century American literary legend.
It was a colorful exclamation point to a phenomenally invested weekend.
Then came the last laugh.
I had offered another poetry stand into the universe.
What will I do now? I have a wooden duck to upcycle. I think she will be bright pink and this time, I am going to write a message on her since knowing my progress, these poetic pieces of art stay in my hands for about a week to ten days before moving along the poetry flow into someone else's hand.
In fact, part of my fun is imagining what people said/thought/did when they saw the purple whale sitting there at the feet of Mr. Clemens.
I trust she found a good home in all her purple sparkly goodness.
It is like a poem - it is great when I had her and somehow even better when I shared her with the rest of the world.
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