Boston University - HUB Yearbook (Boston, MA)

Page 18 text:

UNDERTOW HOWARD DININ Brittle-boned, thigh-deep and Wading, bird-like, my father stood While ocean bit and spat the beach About his feet. Waiting, the sun bled on his back Worn pale from years in hiding. Now bronze and mole-speckled, He watches the water learing, black, Unloving mother, unlike Mama's eyes, which tempered to near sight No longer see. Ocean, unsparing, mocks in a whirlpool Eye, shoulder, elbow, torso. No Circe, bareback seahorse rider, Mama paddles porpoise-like, N o daughter of the foam, Wet skirt clinging to her billowing thighs. Perhaps a second cousin to the sea, She wonders. Scooping below, She tosses the pebbles she gathers Before my father. Ripples somersault about him Rhythmic with scattered pebbles. Mama floats around the rings Splashing him, who shivers. Above, the sun and moon divide The sky. Later afternoon, the ocean Eats her young. Lapping the floor, She sing her supper home. Arching tongues of waves stroke the bather And dribble bubbling along the beach. Caught in the throat of a gigantic Inhalation, my father topples, Groping, crippled, for Mama Whose arms about him lug him Trembling toward the shore. Ocean pulls the sand against each step. Salt-blind and tripping, Mama loosens her hold. My father slips between her arms, Surrendering, limp and fading, To the seaward thrust.

Page 17 text:

2 Af 'J ff? ,. X . fa l Ll 'i E fx .,, I ' 'N 5 g ' ' v,:, A 'I r. Nfl X R Nearj Through a thousand layers of gauzy silk Rhythms of yonder lull the one hill just beyond SUZANNE LEVY , the horizon. A swoop of roosters orange. momentarily, momentarily, Bones of color zigzag. An oriental meditates past music and time In dawn hues, this waterscape. Cheri Colby SFAA '67 Violet exuding tincture of spring-mad caterpillar. SUZANNE LEVY ODE IN MAUVRE QOn Paul jenkins's Phenomena Yonder

Page 19 text:

He didn't drown in the mouth ofa wave For nine long life guards answered Mama's sh Rushing from their canvas chairs, They linked together, elbow, shoulder, And waded, slow, surefooted, to the place Where my father floated, numb and faceless. They towed him back to life. Safe in a home of bath tubs and seascapes, Mama mails the post cards she forgot to send. Weary from an evening Crosswords And comedies, my father climbs the stairs. Reduced to underwear, suntan fading, He puts himself to bed. Ears like a seashell pressed to the pillow Hears the thrash and babble of a wave. Blankets sprawl around him Wrinkled like ripples. Eyes folded, Shoulder nestled to the mattress, Elbows framing the pillow, Torso gently heaves, and falling, The undertow, swirling about him, Guides my father into sleep. Verandah Porche CLA '67 rieks. HOWARD DININ HOWARD DININ