Sunbathers soak in blasted brilliance.
Umbrellas on the shore a kaleidoscope canopy.
We unpack close to the break
feel spray on our faces,
lick salt from our lips
and watch a silver fish jump
into the air.
Natalie says she loves the way sand feels
on her feet. She cartwheels
on its forgiving platform.
Videos herself—arms stretched
legs arched—a rotating sea star.
Body introverted she looks up
to pale blue. Waves pound the shore
and crumble shells, none
to search out, none that survive.
Natalie sifts the rough grain
rubs it between her fingertips.
How long will the beach be here?
Chancy, like all our sinking fiction—
castles crumbled pool back to the sea.
Florence Murry is the author of Last Run Before Sunset, forthcoming in 2023 with Finishing Line Press. Her poems have appeared in Slipstream Press, Stoneboat Literary Magazine, Off the Coast, Bluestem Magazine, Southern California Review, Hole In The Head Review, and others. Florence is a member of Jack Grapes’ L.A. Poets and Writers Collective and Tresha Faye Haefner and the Poetry Salon. She, her husband, and two cats live in Southern California.
Cheryl Caesar lived in Paris, Tuscany, and Sligo for 25 years and earned her doctorate in comparative literature at the Sorbonne. She teaches writing at Michigan State University. She publishes poetry worldwide and gives readings locally. Her chapbook of protest poetry Flatmanis available from Amazon. Some of her COVID-era poems appear in Rejoice Everyone! Reo Town Reading Anthology, and the Social Gap Experiment, also available from Amazon. An upcoming anthology, Words Across the Water, features her poems and recent artwork.
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