{"id":6063,"date":"2026-10-06T03:10:06","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T10:10:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/pastis\/?p=6063"},"modified":"2026-10-06T14:23:57","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T21:23:57","slug":"galveston-beach-1963","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/pastis\/galveston-beach-1963\/","title":{"rendered":"Galveston Beach, 1963"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>A representative piece from my <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/pastis\/juvenilia-or-abandoned-poems\/\"><em>Juvenilia.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">*<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Primary colors: blue, taupe, marine green.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\">Primary sound: the gargle of the waves<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\">trounching the \u00a0shore, leaving delicate patterns<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\">filigreed on sand. I lie belly up,\u00a0arms extended,<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\">on a clammy towel,\u00a0eyelids fused against the sun.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\">The air&#8217;s\u00a0saline, soggy odor permeates,<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\">saturates my lungs, slowing body functions<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\">to warm, untroubled tranquility.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">To drowse is a pleasure, to quaver, joy,<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\">for I am basking in a sticky cloak<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\">of salt and sand which each movement gently<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\">flakes off, exposing more flesh to be<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\">flushed by the sun, to simmer in the sun.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Overhead (I cannot see them but can hear<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\">their sharp squawks), seagulls circle<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\">against the cerulean sky, descending invisible<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\">stairways to the tidewater clams. Kindly,<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\">a sea breeze washes over my caramel skin.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">*<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>Don&#8217;t recall why I thought sunbathing was a particularly poetic experience, but I do detect the influence of Lawrence Durrell, of whom I was an avid reader at eighteen: opening lines modeled on some from the <\/em>Alexandria Quartet<em> itself but also a certain style and topos of his poems<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A representative piece from my Juvenilia. * Primary colors: blue, taupe, marine green. Primary sound: the gargle of the waves trounching the \u00a0shore, leaving delicate patterns filigreed on sand. I lie belly up,\u00a0arms extended, on a clammy towel,\u00a0eyelids fused against the sun. The air&#8217;s\u00a0saline, soggy odor permeates, saturates my lungs, slowing body functions to warm, &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/pastis\/galveston-beach-1963\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Galveston Beach, 1963&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/pastis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/pastis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/pastis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/pastis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/pastis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6063"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/pastis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6063\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6068,"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/pastis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6063\/revisions\/6068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/pastis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/pastis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/pastis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}