When she left, Anita took Mom's valise, the round one with the wooden handle from Eaton's department store. Mom was furious. She'd had it on hold at the store for weeks while she earned enough to ... [+]
Fireworks rupture the smoke
gold stars like sky-sealed approval
burst trickle down
green triangles flare then vanish
the city gathers along the shore
in mosquito-dotted night
the buzz orchestral, indifferent
purr of the ocean, surprised gasps
of children, their popsicle-sticky faces
made long with dropped jaws
they whoop and whimper
in stark contrast
with the college students: young,
cool, well-versed
in critical theory;
they trade paraphrased Foucault
and cigarettes, remark
on their elegant boredom
but they don't leave
grudging wonder wedged
behind their collarbones
and halfway up a construction crane
sweating in solitude, the cherry
of a joint hot between my teeth
I pull smoke close
a collective awe as a willow tree
descends the sky, makes its way
to the water as we have all made
our way to the water
I exhale toward the coast
remember there are reasons
to stay after all.
gold stars like sky-sealed approval
burst trickle down
green triangles flare then vanish
the city gathers along the shore
in mosquito-dotted night
the buzz orchestral, indifferent
purr of the ocean, surprised gasps
of children, their popsicle-sticky faces
made long with dropped jaws
they whoop and whimper
in stark contrast
with the college students: young,
cool, well-versed
in critical theory;
they trade paraphrased Foucault
and cigarettes, remark
on their elegant boredom
but they don't leave
grudging wonder wedged
behind their collarbones
and halfway up a construction crane
sweating in solitude, the cherry
of a joint hot between my teeth
I pull smoke close
a collective awe as a willow tree
descends the sky, makes its way
to the water as we have all made
our way to the water
I exhale toward the coast
remember there are reasons
to stay after all.