The Grand Tour

Dear fellow traveler: Those of you who set out with me on this versified Grand Tour with expectations of a comforting consistency of: time frame, travel style and point of view, lengths of stay in any given country (not to mention organized schedules and depth of exploration there), will quickly realize that they simply do not exist. This could, I realize, lead to varying degrees of disappointment (if not mild trauma) giving rise to the hasty notion of a last-minute cancellation of the entire trip and cashing in your round-trip ticket. Before doing anything so rash, however, dear Perry's and Burton's of the new millenium, please let me chat with you a moment about the care and feeding of these poems and how they managed to be collected under one rooftree, as it were. There is, admittedly, a kind of Cook's Tour feeling about the book, in that a whale of a lot of ground is covered in a "hedge- hopping" manner spanning a brief period of hurry-up stops here, lingering stays there, and with Accommodations and Comfort ranging from "shoestring el cheapo" to desert and jungle "posh." At first glance, the itinerary seems to be one continuous voyage touching both well-worn Middle School Geography sites and exotic unheard-of "ports of call" around the world in a prescribed period of time. This appearance is deceptive. Our voyage is actually made up of poems written in various times and climes stretching from 1951 to the present and representing a canvas of nearly half a century. And it is arranged in geographical rather than in chronological sequence. Thus, those knapsack-burdened, Youth- Hostelling, barn-hopping, auto-stopping trips of one's youth have become inextricably entangled with later, more civilized, "package tours." Back trouble, a carpal-tunneled right thumb (critical when hitching south -except in Britain and what's left of the Colonies), and age-increased dependence on hotel amenities have rendered that earlier mode of travel, regrettably, a thing of the past. There are also good reasons why certain countries and time periods are covered in loving depth of detail, while some are dismissed with a pert verse or two, and others ignored altogether. Consider, dear fellow travelers, that the pre- marriage/family, post-divorce, and early retirement years provided lots of time for "soaking up atmosphere" (as we writers like to say) and poetic exploration of places on a range of levels. In those middle years as an "overworked and underpaid " Theatre Professor traveling with a plucky wife and energetic little son in tow, one's creative juices were usually upstaged by more pressing needs -like changing diapers and locating cheap lodging for the night with built-in free Frühstück come morning. Then too, my "need for creative expression " was more than satisfied through preparing classes in Stanislavsky, Classic Acting Styles, and Improv, plus the never-ending challenge of staging plays, operas, and musicals. You can see why writing was not the driving force it proved to be before and since. Also, consider that these enclosed poems were penned with no thought of a final collection and the attendant concerns with "unity," "continuity," and "variety" in mind. I wrote what in- inspired me at the moment, and the poems were bound to range from "soup to nuts," as my Father used to say. And so, I hope you will not cash in your ticket, but accompany me back through those years of travel, experiencing them through my versifying viewfinder. Take time to relish those time/places I captured well. Forgive the ones I missed completely. And do be patient when one turns fuzzy and out-of-focus. If a "unifying" factor does emerge, it will surely be my love of these rare and personal moments, which enriched my stay on this "spinning globe," together with a burning desire to share them with you. Time's up! The highway beckons; the last departing ferry blasts its final wail; train doors are slammed and locked; and the passenger steps are, at this very moment, being rolled from our plane back to Gate 12. Got your passport and visas, shot record, Traveler's Checks? Did you remember to pack flashlight (for the tombs) , extra film (in separate containers to avoid Airport X-ray damage), insect repellent, and sunscreen and glasses (for the Tropics)? Double check laundry soap, towel, and washrag for those dingy hotels –and plenty of toilet paper? Did the lip chap get packed with the snuggies, sweater, and scarf for our first stops in the North? How about aspirin, water purification tablets, Keopektate (both bottles?) , airsick tablets, and Mother Sills' Seasick Pills? Can you reach them quick in an emergency? Too late! We're picking up runway speed. Here comes the liftoff. We're up, off, and away! Wheeeee! Alohal Bon Voyager Gute Reisel "Don't forget to write!", JACK BEACH