Almost Monkey Island Melody Avakian, AZCOM 2020 Poem & Photograph Off to Monkey Island we go, Where it is, we don’t really know. We crave adventure, we crave to explore Can’t tell us what to do anymore. Let’s take a ride, shouldn’t take too long Soon we’d learn that we were wrong. Driving past the city with no end, Saying words the driver can’t comprehend. Where are we? Oh, we’re in Ho Chi Minh, A place the three of us have never been. Driving now for two long hours, We’re all nervous about this plan of ours. He pulls up to a dead-end road, Hesitantly out of the car we flowed. Looking around thinking “is this the place?” If you could only see the look on my friend’s face! A tiny boat portrayed as a ferry, Us? We refuse to let it carry. No cell phone service, no ride back to the city, This situation is far from pretty. Alas, a corner store up ahead “Maybe they can help us,” I said. A kind man pointed across the street To a bus that looked kind of beat. The bus was the lifeline we did need, For it would take us back, Godspeed. Saved from our adventure gone awry, Thankful today we did not die. Although to Monkey Island we did not go, We did see some water buffalo! Our trip was not how we thought it would be, But we’ll always remember the story of almost monkey. 36 THRIVE 2018
39 Publizr Home