Children of Wind an Sea,
rich, poor or somewhere in between;
would-be superstars and those
of you who just drive fancy cars;

 

As you sit atop your boards
dreaming of fame and glories
and in gentle moments rock
upon the waters blue and dark;
Or at your desk of homework,
preparing for the test in school;

 

In your car behind the wheel
waiting for the green light’s start;
In your bed before morning’s meal,
while for the wave you wait
to be carried toward the parking lot,
the shack, and Neptune’s Place;

 

You might contemplate
the coming wave
upon a metaphysical sea
where waves the size
of your imagination rise;

 

In that ocean ride
your dreams to success or failure;
without embarrassment or reward
to soundless crash on cerebral shore.

 

Lonely surfer in the mind
far from the crowd and jostled
by unexpected spirits and afraid;
Where everyone struggles to decide
which wave to catch and ride,
but only the brave
ride out of their mind
and into the crowd.

Children of Windansea

Charles N. Guthrie lives and writes in Southern California.

Copyright © 2008 by Charles N. Guthrie
All Rights Reserved
[This poem may be copied and used for educational purposes with acknowledgment of authorship]

Originally written as the epilogue to the book, Neptune’s Laughter, the Legend of Butch VanArtsdalen, California’s Greatest Surfer, this was the original version which differs from the book version and is published here for the first time. There are some references in the poem that a farm boy in Ohio, or city boy in New York might not understand as well as someone who is not familiar with California surfing spots. The poem tells about La Jolla’s Windansea beach, the best surfing spot on the west coast, the parking lot overlooking the beach, the Shack, and Neptune Place.

Windansea (that is the correct spelling) is a small beach in the very old, rich and famous town of La Jolla, California (La Jolla, in Spanish means the jewel) with homes of movie stars and politicians as well as a bunch of rich and famous people, a herd of semi-rich, a gaggle of upper middle class, and there has always been a dearth of average incomed.

Windansea beach has a parking lot that sits on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The parking lot has about 18 spaces (just enough to cause a fight) and below the parking lot is the famous Shack, which is composed of four strong poles and a palm leaf roof, which roof is rebuilt each Spring. Neptune Place is the road that winds north and south by the Pacific Ocean through the town of La Jolla. It is so close to the ocean that from Neptune Place one can throw a rock into the Pacific.

When the poem talks about being carried by the wave toward the parking lot, the shack and Neptune’s Place, it’s talking about the area the surfer dismounts from his board in front of onlookers on the beach and in the parking lot unless of course he is wiped out. It was at Windansea Beach the hero of Neptune’s Laughter, Butch VanArtsdalen, now deceased, in the book rode the biggest wave to ever crash into California’s coast.

Neptune's Laughter tells in rhymes about the two great waves in Butch’s life, the waves of the ocean and the waves of his own reputation at La Jolla High School and in the town of La Jolla.

Neptune's Laughter addresses the White Cross on top of Mt. Soledad, (this is the famous cross which has been the subject of litigation in the national news) La Jolla High School, Windansea beach, the parking lot, and the Shack. The story about Butch VanArtsdalen is part fiction and part real life.

Concerning famous people such a story is not unusual. Similar types of stories combining real people and fiction have been written through the ages such as the Devil and Daniel Webster, by Stephen Vincent Benét.