by Bill Yarrow
I knew I needed to visit a beach
made entirely of sharks' teeth
and on that beach I knew I would find
ivory binoculars left by a vegan birder
and with those binoculars I knew I could see
into the windows of a shoreline luncheonette
and in that luncheonette I knew I'd find
my step uncle propositioning a leggy waitress
and I thought of my aunt, her failing eyes
a thousand miles away on a dirty beach
looking for signs of onyx-colored birds
and I knew I had to visit that beach
for I too wanted to see those birds
and I had the binoculars necessary
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This poem appeared in A-Minor on September 26, 2011.
Thank you, Nicolette Wong.
The poem appears in Pointed Sentences (BlazeVOX, 2012).
I love the way this poem builds on itself like waves lapping a shoreline, Bill. Nice going.*
This poem is a real traveler. I like the (in)significance of "step uncle" -- significant because besides the "I" who is the speaker, he's the only other human at that point in the poem, and yet how random a relation it would seem to be. The imagery is thick with an imagined nature more real than real set beside a tacky luncheonette humanism. *
Great use of the line throughout - rhythms, and the closing of the lines. Good form.
Love this stuff--love to read it asnd be inspired by it. It's just so interesting and magical, the way you make it connect.
Great statrt, great rhythm, great close. Beat-like sound but with real teeth. So real surreal.
Great rhythm, I knew .. I knew ... I had .... Final line ripples out. Thank you.
Lovely poem, Bill, I remember it from A-minor.
*
Bill, solid, lyrical and strong.*
and I thought of my aunt, her failing eyes
a thousand miles away on a dirty beach
looking for signs of onyx-colored birds
and I knew I had to visit that beach
for I too wanted to see those birds
and I had the binoculars necessary
Beautiful. *