april 5,2005

somers point

nan and pop pop
lived in a neat
little house
in somers point
on pennsylvania ave.
all the streets had states names
nan's sister lived on a different state.
somers point is one town removed
tourist mecca-ocean city
in this otherwise sleepy
little cracker box
you can catch a whiff
excitement the ocean
the traffic-
o.c. is a dry town
everybody comes
to somers point for their liquor.

the air is thick with salt and
humidity that drenches makes
your hair sticky.
on a hot summers nights
the dairy queen has a line
out the wazoo.
people try to decide between
chocolate
and vanilla.

and we had our own mecca on pennsylvania ave
the enormous green and white
above ground pool that filled
almost the entire
chain linked
back yard.
we'd play miss america with nan's
tiaras and have bathing suit competitions
(this perhaps explains my loathing of swimsuits,today)
and my skinny sister
and her friend tracy
always won
(they only had two tiaras)
and i would paddle about happily
in my styrofoam floaty.
with the cute
little styrofoam duck on top
i loved
that duck.
it looked like the one
tom and jerry
that thought tom was his "mommy"
all the while tom was fixing
to
eat him.

nan would have her fantastic rose swim cap on-
(she was always a glamour puss)
dad would have his wire
dark sunglasses on-
just enjoy the whole of it all
playing war amongst pop's homeade
full size wooden
carved cannons-
replicas of the civil war-
we'd eat applesauce
that was already
sweetened
nan would add tons of cinnamon
and sugar...

that little duck-
even at three
i remember
being afraid of getting
too big for the floaty
i wanted my dad
to chop off
the duck

so that i could always keep it.
so that i could always have

this time
these smells
this laughter
for always...
but i guess
he never did.