Return Home To The Real World

Return Home To The Real World
© Surazeus
2018 08 07

When I was a boy in the seventies,
growing up in a small town in east Texas,
I would go home every day after school
to watch Gilligans Island on television.

When I was thirteen in seventy-eight
I went on a trip with my eighth-grade class
to Six Flags over Texas where I bought
the same sailor hat that Gilligan wore.

Scared of falling from dizzy heights of Heaven,
I refused to ride the huge roller coaster
that loops high around the indifferent moon,
while I role-played as First Mate Gilligan.

During graduation of my small class
of eighteen kids, our class president read
the Class Will bequeathing to every student
one item befitting their character.

"To Butch Craig," he read, as I was then known,
"we bequeath one sailing boat with strong hull
to escape the shores of Gilligans Island
so he can return home to the real world."

We never escaped Gilligans Island
for that tropical island of lost souls
is a metaphor for life in America,
real life now weird as that comedy show.