VACATION: Captiva Island and Provicetown feat. Candy w/the Go Go’s and Black Sheep

“When we first met, we found ourselves working at the harbor’s edge—One cam gaffs the shirt. The swimmer beaches us: one arm free, the other digs.” *Candy at the Cape 1.* 2025. Digital Image.

“In a dream, sand became water. In life, we arrive as effigy. Not quite buried, we layer, aware of our dance tracks as apparatus: tripod as clutch/mask as breath.” *Candy at the Cape 2*. 2025. Digital Image.

“We freestyled towards the pier, our sightline—rows of flipped homes. Baby doll holds us when the tide falls. We don’t dizzy. Instead, we punch through the sea.” *Candy’s Map 1*. 2025. Digital Image.

“We enjoyed our palms. Our finger lines traced up some in the current. Our hip joints and back sing: “*Vacation all I ever wanted/Vacation, had to get away…*” *Candy’s Map 2.* 2025. Digital Image.

“You can’t dance here!” Rich—what more could I have done but run further into residency? In all white, I’m still here. *I am special*. Again and again, we must tell. *Candy’s Vision 1*. 2025. Digital Image.

“*Can’t seem to get my mind off of you/Back here at home there’s nothin’ to do…”* We made it hurt less under the hot white sun, “…for hundreds and hundreds of hours…” *Candy’s Vision 2*. 2025. Digital Image.

“All of us were there, minus one…” In Mourning, by “…sea or lake or bay….” Our task—to draft us forever. Grief bares altars, visions. Our layers recline, *get up. Candy’s Vision 2*. 2025. Digital Image.

Before we understood “slack tide” had a name, we simply let the quiet sea take our strokes. The feel comes from the endurance—“It’s how we raised you.” *Candy at the Cape 3*. 2025. Digital Image.

“The skin didn’t stink. It was the chlorine. But still, the stains stay—insults bubble, so we expectorate: “*You can get with this, or you can get with that…” Candy Swims Daily 1*. 2025. Digital Image.

We swam between gulf and harbor, our cam eyed into the blind spot: *“We make our body into a ball and float until the rescue”…“Guess, which way, what, when, how…” Candy Swims Daily 2*. 2025. Digital Image.

Notes on contributor

Ronaldo V. Wilson, PhD, poet, interdisciplinary artist and academic, is author of Narrative of the Life of the Brown Boy and the White Man, winner of the Cave Canem Prize; Poems of the Black Object, winner of the Thom Gunn Award for Gay Poetry and the Asian American Literary Award in Poetry; Farther Traveler: Poetry, Prose, Other, finalist for a Thom Gunn Award for Gay Poetry; and Lucy 72. His latest books are Carmelina: Figures and Virgil Kills: Stories. The recipient of numerous fellowships, including Cave Canem, the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, the Ford Foundation, Kundiman, MacDowell, the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation and Yaddo, Wilson is Professor of Creative Writing and Literature at the University of California, Santa Cruz, serving on the core faculty of the Creative Critical PhD Program; principal faculty member of CRES (Critical Race and Ethnic Studies); and affiliate faculty member of DANM (Digital Arts and New Media).

Contact Ronaldo V. Wilson rvwilson@ucsc.edu

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.

VACATION: Captiva Island and Provicetown feat. Candy w/the Go Go’s and Black Sheep

Notes on contributor

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