Vista of Dreams

Vista of Dreams

I must look like an avid tourist each time I fly
the puddle jumper to and from Friday Harbor.
And I don’t mind one bit.
The camera which is always in my satchel,
a petite 8 megapixel Nikon, is held snugly in my hand
on every flight, eager to capture… anything;
like: a sandy spit emerging mysteriously from the sea,
variably sized with the tides, tailing off of a small atoll
over which I have flown many times and have never managed
to identify. And, one of many overviews of this amazing
archipelago; islands like pebbles scattered randomly
from a child’s fist.

I am a tourist through life, observing as much as possible,
visually, sonically, emotionally. I miss plenty.
Just ask my husband. But what I capture, I hold on to
and appreciate. And share, whenever possible.

If anyone had told me thirty years ago what my life would look
and feel like today, I think I might have had a tough time
grasping that concept, too. I would not have guessed
that the die-hard city rat who grew up in Manhattan
in the gritty 70’s would have morphed into a country mouse
living in the seaside woods on a bridge-less island
few have even heard of.

Juggling an existence composing and recording chamber music,
indie pop tunes, concert wind band pieces, jazz, electroacoustic,
and anything else that pops into my feeble brain,
plus flying around the country yapping on a lot of panels
about the business of how all this gets out into the world
so that my peers can also do it more easily,
plus writing articles, plus serving on boards and committees
for groovy music, science, and education projects,
plus making sure I get my backside into my kayak
and my toes onto the sand as often as possible,
plus playing with the cats and any other somewhat taller
denizen who wander into and around the house…
well… here I am.

I just ordered a very tiny video camera that will keep
my Nikon company in my purse. Maybe they’ll mate
and I’ll find a little MP3 player in there one day.
My hope is that I’ll be able to share an occasional moving
picture with you, to further express the three dimensional
reality that surrounds me. Stay tuned!

Alex Shapiro March 2009
Linebreaks by Glenn Buttkus