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How I Spent My Spring Vacation:
Poetry and Photography
by James A. Tweedie
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It Begins
45 Days
Surrounded by the circle of the sea
I cruise Atlantic waters, eastward bound,
As knot by knot each longitude degree
Leads onward towards a world as yet unfound.
To Portugal’s fair island, Madeira!
A fantasy of sea-cliffs, sun, and wines;
Cádiz, the Alcázar in old Seville,
Through Málaga, to where Granada shines.
And next come Barcelona and Toledo,
Madrid, then on to India, Nepal,
And Tokyo, Japan, once known as Edo,
I’ll travel round the world to see them all!
Then in the end I’ll cross the vast Pacific,
To home and new adventures less magnific.
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Seville: in Spanish pronounced “Seh-vee-yah.”
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Portugal
Madeira
Madeira is a slice of Portugal.
Its central peaks are beautiful and tall.
I climbed its highest mountain in the rain.
Success! But was the effort worth the pain?
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Spain
Sagrada Familia
In Barcelona, buy a ticket
And see Sagrada Familia.
My promise is that if you pick it,
You’ll say both “Wow!” and, “Mamma Mia!”
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India
Taj Mahal (Agra)
A monkey at the Taj Mahal
Claims ownership of a small wall.
A mischief-making animal
Who seems to mind me not at all.
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Nepal
The Himalayas
Each morning when it’s time to wake
The Himalayas rise and shine;
As with a stretch and yawn they shake
Their snowy peaks and fall in line.
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Japan
Mt. Fuji
No view of Mt. Fuji can ever exceed a
Short walk up the hill above Shimoyoshida.
Its majesty soaring, its glory declaring
A beauty unequaled, beyond all comparing.
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James A. Tweedie is a retired pastor living in Long Beach, Washington. He has written and published six novels, one collection of short stories, and four collections of poetry including Sidekicks, Mostly Sonnets, and Laughing Matters, all with Dunecrest Press. His poems have been published nationally and internationally in both print and online media. He was honored with being chosen as the winner of the 2021 SCP International Poetry Competition.
A lovely tour with Tweedie. ‘Magnific’, one might say.
Thanks for the bite-size reads.
Paul, Other than the two weeks of leisure on the cruise ship, the trip was too exhilarating, exhausting (and sometimes outright grueling) to write anything longer than these “bite-size reads” (with some exceptions like my earlier posted reflections on public cremations in Kathmandu) https://classicalpoets.org/2025/03/a-poem-written-upon-watching-public-cremations-in-nepal-by-james-a-tweedie/
Fabulous vacation as told in net vignettes of poetry and photos. Thank you for my vicarious trip which spurred my imagination at each stop.
Roy, On this trip, because my wife chose to stay home and I travelled solo (except for my 2-week Gate 1 tour of India and Nepal), I am very glad to have vicarious companions to share the experience! Thanks for joining me on my adventure.
A fine summary sonnet, James, beautifully packing exotic names into the lines. But what I like best about it is the American perspective of sailing east to a new “world as yet unfound.” Your pictures are choice. I haven’t been to Barcelona, and have always found exterior photos of Sagrada Familia rather forbidding, but your interior view seems more open and exalted as well as more colorful. That monkey in Agra is the cutest, as is your monorhymed poem about him. The poem on Fuji, though, lives up to the reputation of the site in Japan. Glad you give a hint about how to get the best view. I have seen Fuji-san, but not from the right spot or in the right weather to be so inspired!
The clouds came and went (mostly came) so I was glad to see as much of the mountain as I did. In the town below the mountain there was still snow from when it had fallen the previous week, so I do count myself fortunate.
And the exterior iconography of Sagrada Familia is at the same time graphic, subtle, devotional, beautiful and inspiring while the interior is more beautiful and worshipful but perhaps lacking the iconography of Christ and our biblical heritage. Definitely a must see. The cathedral (and surrounding Gothic Quarter) is also worth a visit. For a small fee you can access the expansive roof with sweeping views of the city.
Small typo — the correct spelling of the Portuguese place is Madeira, like the wine.
Great description, both in poems and in photos. Some really fun rhymes, too.
Correct. Multiple versions of this set were created and the one published had, of course, the misspelling.
As someone who has never left the U.S. except for a few excursions into Mexico, I greatly appreciate the poetic tour and the photography. You have given me memories I don’t really own.
C.B., You’ve said something quite profound. It seems to me that other than procreation and securing shelter and sustenance, one of the most important tasks of being human is the creation of memories for one’s self and for others. The telling of tales and the sharing of knowledge are two examples in support of this idea. Travel, the making of maps, and the recording of historical events also serve as examples of how memories are created and passed on to others. Life would be impossible without our having memories we “don’t really own.”
It would also be incredibly dull.
I will remember, James, what you just wrote, and be careful about what I dismember.
I would love to read a travel guide written in verse from you.
“Shining in the night-time sky,
To your left is Sacré-Cœur.
After lunch we’ll see Versailles.
Hope that you’re enjoying the tour . . .”
Hmmm. Maybe not.
I echo Adam: you could do great poetic thumbnails of any place you’ve been–even to distinguishing the ocean seen from bow and from stern.
Great photographs, too. Your judgment of lighting is very astute. Your view of Fuji is totally new to me and truly magnificent. Was the shot of you at the Taj Mahal done with a selfie stick? The Taj rises behind you like the heavenly city.
I did take hand-held selfies but this was taken by a fellow traveller. I am not an aficionado of selfie sticks.
Super travelogue Jim and can’t believe that a year has passed since you were over here. We found the vertiginous landscape of Madeira quite scary, so to climb the highest peak is quite an achievement. Best wishes to you.
Peter Hartley has asked me to post this comment on his behalf:
The photographs of your trip around the earth brought back vivid memories to one ex-member of the SCP. In winter conditions in 1985 I reached the summit of Mount Fuji and during the descent of Swallow Valley sustained a sliding fall of nearly nine thousand feet down its icy slopes to end up suspended precariously (and very nearly dead) over the parapet of a viaduct and just below the snow line above the town of Fuji Yoshida. Three roped-up climbers saw me fall and while one made his delicate descent to raise the alarm the other two searched the slopes, but it was seven hours before I reached the neurosurgical department of the local hospital and the care of Dr Kikuyu Ohno (with whom I still exchange Christmas cards). Among other injuries I sustained a massive brain haemorrhage, broke five bones and blinded myself in the right eye. Two years later, in 1987, after a practice-run up Kilimanjaro I climbed Fuji again, this time from Mishima and in summer conditions, at a time when hordes of pilgrims of all ages ascend the mountain bearing lighted candles, this time, happily, without incident.
I have also seen the ghats in Kathmandu.
Peter Hartley
Glad to hear from you, Peter. Well remember your mountaineering and travel poems. Best wishes always.