Patty & Doug, 1970
She’s sitting on his lap. He can’t stop smiling,
as if the hand he holds contains a world
where the plumeria blossom in her hair
never wilts, as if they’ll be sixteen forever.
She untucks her hair from behind her ear. It falls
against her cheek. She tucks it back again,
laughs at what he’s said. She turns her face
to his. Their lips are new, and stutter as they
kiss. He tips his head back, sees the shells
in fishing-nets he suspended from the beams
of the lanai, can think of nothing romantic,
only conch or cowrie, sea-fan, reef-coral,
gecko. She laughs. He can’t stop smiling.
as if the hand he holds contains a world
where the plumeria blossom in her hair
never wilts, as if they’ll be sixteen forever.
She untucks her hair from behind her ear. It falls
against her cheek. She tucks it back again,
laughs at what he’s said. She turns her face
to his. Their lips are new, and stutter as they
kiss. He tips his head back, sees the shells
in fishing-nets he suspended from the beams
of the lanai, can think of nothing romantic,
only conch or cowrie, sea-fan, reef-coral,
gecko. She laughs. He can’t stop smiling.
Barbara Marsh is an American living in London. A recent selection of her work appears in Four Caves of the Heart, an anthology of 14 women poets (Second Light Publications 2004).
Page(s) 35
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