{"id":27690,"date":"2026-05-03T05:50:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T13:50:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eskimo.com\/~mighetto\/murrelet\/Wordpress\/?p=27690"},"modified":"2026-05-03T05:50:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T13:50:21","slug":"opening-day-2026-poem-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eskimo.com\/~mighetto\/murrelet\/Wordpress\/archives\/27690","title":{"rendered":"Opening Day 2026 Poem One"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This has strong Dock Zero energy to it. I leaned into motion and tried to \u201cverb\u201d as many names as possible while keeping the scene grounded in Opening Day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Dock Zero wakes early and begins to Imagine<\/strong> the tide, lines creak as hulls Liberty<\/strong> and gently Sea You<\/strong> the light. We Moseying Around<\/strong> coffee steam and diesel breath, while gulls Scoring Points<\/strong> above the mast forest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Engines Per Diem<\/strong> the morning, steady and ritual,
canvas snaps that TRUE NORTH<\/strong> the restless fleet.
A horn will Providence.<\/strong> the hour soon enough, but first we Better Together<\/strong> the quiet\u2014 hands that Why Not<\/strong> the knots twice over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A breeze begins to North Wind<\/strong> through halyards, and flags COOL CHANGE<\/strong> from slack to story.
You can feel the dock Karma<\/strong> its long memory\u2014 old wood that REHAB<\/strong>s each season and still SAGA<\/strong>s every footstep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Here, \u201cSAGA\u201d , the name of a boat on Dock Zero, is being used like a verb. So \u201cSAGAs every footstep\u201d reads as \u201cturns each footstep into part of a larger story,\u201d or \u201cmythologizes\u201d every move the dock crowd makes. In plain English, it means the scene is so alive and layered that even a step on the dock feels like the start of a chapter. It gives the moment a sense of pageantry, memory, and unfolding narrative.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Names lean out from the slips and start to move\u2014
Lucky Girl<\/strong> laughs and Lucky Boy II<\/strong> answers,
while Thomas Crown<\/strong>s the sun off bright varnish.
Huckleberry<\/strong>s drift into conversation, and someone Jen Marie<\/strong>s a wave across the fairway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
\u201cThomas Crowns the sun\u201d means to turn Thomas Crown into a sunlike, gilding, or triumphant image\u2014as if he\u2019s shining over the scene or dressing the morning in gold. It also echoes the cool, glamorous feel of The Thomas Crown Affair, where the character is associated with style, polish, and confident command.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Further down, a crew SEAFARI<\/strong>s their lines loose,
another MISSION Drift<\/strong>s into the lane, slow and sure. You can hear a PSALM WATERS<\/strong> in the low idle, a kind of prayer that Vigilante<\/strong>s the wake behind us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We Joy Ride<\/strong> the edge of the marina, let the bow Island Suite<\/strong> the chop to rhythm, and somewhere a stereo Beach Music<\/strong>s the air until even the pilings Glim feather<\/strong> in time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
\u201cglim feather in time\u201d suggests catching light that seams to shimmer or soften in rhythm with the moment.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A kid on the finger pier LIL ROCKET<\/strong>s past, dogs Dog Star<\/strong> the horizon for birds, and a skipper Noon Rs <\/strong> like he\u2019s done this forever. We Two by Sea<\/strong> the channel markers, then Sirius<\/strong> our course into the bay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Two by the sea suggests boats threading between the markers together, staying aligned with the safe route. \u201cSirius our course\u201d turns Sirius\u2014the brightest star in the sky, long used by sailors for navigation\u2014into a verb meaning to steer or set our course by Sirius. It evokes boats confidently aligning their heading with this guiding star as they leave Dock Zero, blending celestial tradition with the morning\u2019s departure.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Out there, the water OAS\u00cdS<\/strong>s into blue, and the fleet DREAMTIME<\/strong>s awake all at once\u2014 white wakes threading a single idea. We Island Joy<\/strong> the open stretch, we Hale Moku<\/strong> the salt into skin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
\u201cHale Moku\u201d breaks down to Hawaiian: hale (house) + moku (island or ship), so it evokes a waterfront home, dock house, or island vessel . As a verb , \u201cHale Moku the salt into skin\u201d paints boaters or the scene itself transforming sea salt into something lived-in\u2014absorbing it deeply, like weathering it into their very essence during the outing. It suggests the salt spray of Opening Day is being worked into skin through time on the water, turning exposure into belonging. The image grounds the departure in a tactile, elemental embrace of the marine life after leaving Dock Zero.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Even the quiet boats Belle<\/strong> their reflections,
and the harbor itself Ameya<\/strong>s\u2014 a soft blessing on every departure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
\u201cThe harbor itself Ameyas\u201d turns Ameya , the name of a boat on dock zero, into a verb meaning the Dock Zero community bestows a soft, flowing blessing\u2014like a gentle outpouring or graceful gift\u2014on every boat leaving Dock Zero. It suggests Dock Zero is actively conferring a kind of permission, memory, or benediction as the fleet departs on Opening Day 2026, wrapping the scene in quiet approval.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By noon on Sunday, Dock Zero will Weather<\/strong> the absence, but for now it simply watches us go, counting each name as it leaves, each story it will hold until we return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
In modern New Orleans shops, lagniappe usually shows up as a small, unexpected extra: candy for a child, an extra cookie, a complimentary sample, or a little bonus tied to a purchase. Mark Twain helped spread the word beyond Louisiana after writing about it in Life on the Mississippi, calling it \u201ca word worth traveling to New Orleans to get\u201d.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Now the dock BLUE SKYS<\/strong> the morning wide open,
a crew SALTY DOGs<\/strong> their laughter into the lines,
and someone EVVivas<\/strong> the moment\u2014hands in the air, no hurry left. A hull Mary Diannes<\/strong> past, graceful and sure, while a wake TACORAs<\/strong> sharp against the pilings. Cheers Bravissmo<\/strong> down the fairway, echoing bright, and one last skipper SLO Trolls <\/strong>the throttle\u2014 stretching departure into just a few seconds more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
\u201cEVVivas the moment\u201d** turns EVViva\u2014an Italian exclamation like \u201chooray!\u201d or \u201clong live!\u201d\u2014into a verb meaning to cheer, celebrate, or seize the moment with raised hands and unrestrained joy.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For about a week a floating community on Dock zero thrives, Neptune creates poetry from the registry of named vessels in attendance, and then boats leave and the dock is removed. This happens but once per year only in Seattle, for opening day of the Salish Sea.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For about a week a floating community on Dock zero thrives, Neptune creates poetry from the registry of named vessels in attendance, and then boats leave and the dock is removed. This happens but once per year only in Seattle, for opening day of the Salish Sea.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27695,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Opening Day","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[460],"tags":[27,509,169,277],"class_list":["post-27690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cruising","tag-boating","tag-saint-germain","tag-seattle","tag-yacht-clubs"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.eskimo.com\/~mighetto\/murrelet\/Wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/img_0762-scaled.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4nQeu-7cC","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eskimo.com\/~mighetto\/murrelet\/Wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eskimo.com\/~mighetto\/murrelet\/Wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eskimo.com\/~mighetto\/murrelet\/Wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eskimo.com\/~mighetto\/murrelet\/Wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eskimo.com\/~mighetto\/murrelet\/Wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27690"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/www.eskimo.com\/~mighetto\/murrelet\/Wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27690\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27721,"href":"https:\/\/www.eskimo.com\/~mighetto\/murrelet\/Wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27690\/revisions\/27721"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eskimo.com\/~mighetto\/murrelet\/Wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eskimo.com\/~mighetto\/murrelet\/Wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eskimo.com\/~mighetto\/murrelet\/Wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eskimo.com\/~mighetto\/murrelet\/Wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}