Sea change

Barbados, an island we love un-
idly, is leeward and windward, in
her commanding vantage point atop 
the Grenadines. When I encounter-
ed this visionary experience of 
her Atlantic side, I felt the af-
finity of an indulgent sojourner
there; but the temptation to hop
into my rented Jeep was great, to 
haul ass west, to gentler parishes.

It would be idle of one to say,
I don't know about you, in con-
nection with our Constitution's
provision of a pristine month
remaining to us all, before the
onslaught of a minority thug's
sworn and already unfurling bes-
tiality. One does know about you,
because you come back, even with-
out remark, just to claim the
beach. It doesn't need an excuse.

I wish to protect December, here,
for the treasure it always yields.
In January, it will be absurd to
affect a disengagement: we owe a
knife at the throat, its answer.

For now, I do wish to commemorate
the American Thanksgiving, even if
a serene December is far-fetched,
as an accident of grace one could
ever expect, before our looming 
storm is turned away.

To this, it would not be undignified
to be dedicated. To that inevitable
dispersal, every resident and guest
of these shores deserves a Thanks-
giving of hope and resolution.

To readers overseas, especially the
many in France, I hope that our exam-
ple of catastrophe may gird and guide
your navigation of similar straits.
We think of the fleet of France, off
the beaches at Yorktown, and we know
fraternité can never expire, in sub-
stance or necessity.

On y va.

Adam Patterson
Study for Transgressing
  the Atlantic, Barbados
2016

Ivan Terestchenko
tricouleur