SEA CURE

Fat cloud fingers rake the sky,
and the night folds slowly
with its clownish orange moon
lounging on the ocean’s belly.
Uncomplicated waves pleat
white hems, left-right-left.
We guzzle lime rickeys at the local
soda shop and buy cheesy souvenirs
for friends, gummy bear wrist-watches,
lime-green squirt gun bracelets.
And of course there are the waves
that let us ride for free, that tumble
us clean and drown our terrors,
so that even when somebody calls
the name of our beloved absent
longed-for son, lost to us now
and maybe for always, even then,
although the sound of it slaps hard
and hurls us backwards out to sea,
we’re righted again, coughed up
on the sand to gasp and bake,
recover and read again out loud
a book that ends in reunion.

I will list some of the pleasures of Ocean Park, Maine.

Miles of beautiful beaches

Tidal river through miles of wetlands, perfect for canoe and kayak

Water temperature will either kill you or make you stronger.

No available healthy food, so perfect excuse to consume mass quantities of chips, fried clams, creemees, ice cream cones and gummy bear candy in an
unprecedented number of sizes, shapes, and colors.

Enough quiet to hear the breaking of waves and your own heartbeat