Triple-ripe peaches,
not so ripe to be mushy,
but even chilled
the firm flesh gushes
the sugar built from recent days
of moist sunshine.
Can we have just this—
only take the goodness
and ignore the quick-onset arthritis
of a dear friend, or
the just-dead husband of another?
In Bridgehampton can’t we be
on vacation and not be in the real?
Maybe not.
Corn is different.
Sweet and white,
so, boil water in a pot at home now
as Mom stops at a field
owned by someone she knows
but doesn’t care for,
flashes into the rows,
at least five deep
to get past the cow corn
and right back out
with the good stuff.
It has only one hour
to get into and out of the pot
(more fruit stands
but no time
to stop)
and be eaten with butter, pepper
and salt—
only that sweetness,
short time in the mouth,
so tightly binds our memories
to these last few weeks of summer.
Girls at the beach
show off their new tops
ostensibly playing Frisbee
hoping the boys will join.
The boys play baseball
on the radio
hoping the girls
will come over
and pretend to listen
together with them.
The sandals aren’t lined up
off to the side of the sand trail
that leads past the parking lot’s ice cream truck
to the open sand at Scott Cameron Beach.
But they aren’t randomly scattered either.
They are in pairs, of course, pairs.
The two-footed beach-goers have taken them off
to feel their toes in the sand for this part of the day.
The sandals are at the beach, together,
of course, together, and they are grouped
because the young children’s sandals are near
those of their parents, so the children can find them again
when they are ready to go back to the house
to play some more with their older cousins
and their brother. Grandma’s sandals are there, too,
keeping a watchful eye on them all.
Bridgehampton is being illustrated with water color art, and will be on sale on Amazon in April.
“Road-Side Farm Stand,” “Sweet Corn,” “Mecox Beach” and “Sandals” were all published in 2017 in the online Scene and Heard Journal.
https://medium.com/the-scene-heard/road-side-farm-stand-2b0237bbe821
https://medium.com/the-scene-heard/sweet-corn-200f5fffc33a
https://medium.com/the-scene-heard/mecox-beach-cb6e2e28fa0d
https://medium.com/the-scene-heard/sandals-1adc51c351cf