Robert Trezise Jr. Poet Free verse

Spring Break Ii - On Our Way

Before my wife and I
Broke out of our shell
For spring break in Miami
Just the two of us on our first vacation in 30 years

All our kids wished us well
Though I detected an ache in their voices
“Next time!” one of my boys said in a farewell text

Next time, I said to myself
I’d love that, a next time

My oldest, Hannah, said she remembered a lightning storm
Raging over the evening ocean
From our beachfront condo balcony

And the Goodyear blimp
Swallowing our entire wall of windows
With its silver billow and pilots waving
Face to face
On a sunny day

To us
In the condo we had no business renting

Those long ago times when I was still Daddy
And Kerri was Mommy
Worried about footprints in the sand
And where to hide the Marlboro Light 100s
Remember them?

The good old days

When we were an octopus coordinating seven days
From sunrise to sunset

Those tiny four lives fit to the scale of our hands
I don’t think we ever quite got it right
Nudging our kids through the tide of time

Soaked in salt and sun
And their little drooping bathing suits
Throwing a red ball to the fetching gloves
Of the turquoise waves

Plastic yellow shovels and pails
Hung from their hands
Mimicking the divinity of their very flawed parents

Told them the story of when I was a kid
Down here
My mom and dad let me swim
By moonlight in the ocean
(This is the pre-Jaws era)
And when I came out of the water
A Man-O-War was wrapped around my leg

I screamed in agony all night
My mom saying, I don’t know what else to do
I don’t know what else to do Bobby

So now I remember the welts of the electric tentacles
That storm over the ocean
Dug up from Hannah’s own memory

I could see it too
My wife and kids’ huddled faces
Peeking through the curtains of clouds

The six of us
Sunburned and tired just before bed
Framed forever in that upper floor of windows

The bolts of lightning
Streaking down to the shore
Striking
The turtle shell of the tumultuous sea.

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L Milton Hankins April 2, 2021 at 8:34 AM Ah, it was nice to read this story, Robert. Your first one, I thought you were a college student off on a lark. I loved the flow of your story very much.