Crazy Golf
We’ve left your family playing
By the Egyptian towers,
The tiny stucco cliffs.
Walking the tide line
I’m having trouble seeing you as you are now,
Grey-haired, forty-one, beginning to be worn.
I’ve tried rubbing my eyes
But your skin, your mouth
Keep slipping back to how they were
Before womanhood bit,
When you used to scorch your hair
Gerbera red, chrysanthemum yellow,
When you had pockets
Full of phone numbers,
And all boys were fools.
You’re telling me something
But the sea keeps tuning you out.
It’s oil-slick brown today,
Rising like panic.
You’re telling me
About the sex you’ve been having
With some man, not your husband.
It’s nothing much,
You know it won’t change anything
But you need it,
It fuels you,
You’re sexy again.
Somehow we’ve come full circle:
We’re back at the Crazy Golf,
Your children are excited.
They fall on you
Waving their scorecards,
The game’s over.
Page(s) 58-59
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