Moonlight in Paradise
A vacant lifeguard tower
twelve feet over damp sand
guards long since gone
moonlit clouds softly shifting
sitting on the platform
legs dangling
silent desires masked
by laughs and touches
stars mesh with hotel lights
half a mile up the beach
ukulele, guitar and voices
echo in the humid breeze
ocean reflections forming
a shimmering pathway
dark eyes, crystalline skin
jet black hair, now whispering
teasing sensibilities when
the hoodie with a hunting knife
landed in our nest uniting us
forever as survivors not lovers
Betrayal
Missing child posters like scars
stapled to telephone poles
for weeks then months
her laughing brown eyes
oversized front teeth smile
bouncy dark hair flowing
all over
a proper, blue-collar town
kids, dogs, softball leagues
fist bumps, hugs, PTA meetings
barbecue hazed weekends
it takes a village sort of place
last seen at home then gone
adrenaline finally thinning
sobbing parents no longer in the news
hope dimming, media & search
teams discretely disbanding
K-9 search dogs refusing to budge
from their backyard staging area
until hydraulic shovels & excavators
began digging it all up
The Countess
Her thigh numb from lack
of circulation she shifts
weight from left to right
sweaty blouse and shorts
sticking to her body
now silk with velvet trim
dark matted hair wet with
perspiration a spectacularly
coiffed bouffant with bow
her eyes luxuriate
on the luscious grounds
of the family’s estate
its placid river ambling
through the evening
sleeping alongside
her younger brothers
on the fire escape platform
outside the tenement window
Lower Eastside Manhattan
heat thrusting them to the night
Subway Commuter
The train doors close
and he goes numb
what of the limo and the driver
the hero he expected
by now
satin suits, silk ties
opal cufflinks, polished brogues
polished complexion
now ousted by expensive
jeans, no sock slip-ons
ten-day stubble
passing Canal Street
Penn Station to Uptown
with no respect in his mid-sixties
hanging on a strap as teens
nap in seats and dream
of their futures in the sky
penthouse life, sports heroes
awards, applause
he sways and swivels
around the curves, shifting
his stance for forty years
first name embroidered
above the pocket of his gray
uniform shirt in laundry faded red
he keeps waiting
Struggling Believer
He shouts an expletive
at himself recognizing
the resemblance to his
high school daughter
a cuddle of palm trees
swaying in rhythm casting
caricatures masking
the beach access path
shuffling fronds soften
sweating October sun
men in fluorescent shirts
popping power trimmers
dropping quick cut shrubs
into ragged clumps
the teenage girl walks past
her short smock tossed
carelessly by the breeze
squinting fluorescent eyes
locked on every movement
he sees the breeze in her hair
luridly imagining what lies
below the colorful flows
his shout muffled by hedger buzz
another two-candle night
one at the cathedral
driving home
another on the dinner table
with his wife and kids