Of YouTube Travelers: We Do Enjoy
Turquoise waters, sands slope to shore.
Islands kissed by the Caribbean sun.
No need to choose, we stream YouTube,
destinations without departures –
our dreams deferred as calendars run.
From our living room, we watch the whisking.
Another forty-six minute segment to and fro.
Off to Cozumel, Aruba, Sicily, or Bermuda,
Hosts averting sadness, arching over mundane -
From financed recliners, we seek places to know.
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Her hands… my wife moisturizes her hands,
Pining over an assessment of fading beauty
While I try a no - encroaching creases,
osteo wear and tear, say another. Recovering,
restocking and registering; subtle harm of retail factory.
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Jangling footage, even the camera operator cannot
keep up. A perched fortress in Old San Juan reveals
the shimmering ocean. Rented rickshaws in central
Bangkok letting Youtubers play. ‘We’re eating noodles,’
I push pause to ask her how the foot massager feels.
One grail in this home, cruise ship ‘compare and contrast’.
Decks of 10, 20+?, surely thousands engaging
the crew. She notes packing hacks, we map on-board strategy,
plot better the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, a dark
horse Alaska. We try to establish a tour staging.
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So close we were - a truth of fact,
Booked to board six and a half months away.
My adverse work signal prompted dream deferred -
but the trip insurance extension carries a
spirit unbroken, God’s will, we recline for another day.
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From the heart each retail shift finds her smile, while
I want to find a place for her where all will smile back –
My failings cumulate with each passing spring,
As summer prints yield to back-to-school, making
way for the holiday sprint, revealing the giving I lack.
Neither helped her enough nor brought sufficient in.
Now without work and only time, I try my best.
But a nit left on a dish, a stray pet hair not trapped
in the swiff – my attempts meet her bodily tiredness
with upset, when she cannot grab brief rest.
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Where to this day my love? The tray tables unfold asa shared evening begins. Scroll right, up, down,
back – Scottish castles and countryside beckon.
Next, Galapagos – GoPro yielding a snorkeled
dive. Head into the Andes, the historical Cuenca town.
But we have a place to be, a screen, and the roof overhead.
Thanks given for the stovetop tofu curry, as for many not so.
Though the cliff-ledges of life approaching sixty loom,
we place our trust in the Almighty. Solving not for the pining
as Myrtle feels far away, rather the comfort in him to know.
Believing that our ship will one day come in –
Neatly packed luggage, delivered to our door - swell.
Nestled on the 12th deck, a bottle of Martinelli waiting.
Still hardy for excursions and much more.
Only private stills taken, no need to subscribe or ring a bell.
