The Sand Hill Review               http://www.sandhillreview.org 2009

The Sea

I have prepared a place

where only the strong break

Now when I catch him in my arms, the heat is still underfoot

But of course, I always fall for rain

A photograph fades, just off color

pretense without plot

He had no city, no address

no way to find me

Now that there is more room, there is less to please

Radiance surrounds me without transparency

After he kissed me on Russian Hill

I abandoned him

He told me: I don’t believe in Romeo and Juliet

Eighteen years old

I saw the tern dive head first into the sea

I wake to a distant fan and white birds

No clear descent, a blue amulet

A bell before a clapper

A boat beckons to me like a little sister

Many times I practiced before the mirror

with a desire for a silver manicure and copper cockfights

that would haunt me into the early hours

Danger moves innocuous between clouds.

Summer won’t last long enough

Mary-Marcia Casoly