Marooned ver. 3

[TranquillityBase]

I found you in a folk-dance class
confessed my instant attraction
and you took my phone number
You called me out 
into the early spring night.
I remember your laughter 
echoing inside our embrace.
You told me you wanted to live 
on a beach in Oregon with a man 
who didn’t care who else held you.

You were a rabbi’s daughter become
a dark Romani princess
hungry for men.
I followed you for weeks
until the weight of your wildness
wore me down to a bent loneliness, 
but those hours
I spent in sexless surveillance
never left me alone again.

Forty years later
marooned with only
those moments for shelter
you’re the fire of my wan signal
to the passing of time.
Love’s reckoning
still waits on this empty shore 
for an impossible beginning.

ver. 2

I massaged your back 

while Rainy Night in Georgia played.

A rabbi’s daughter, dark gypsy princess.

Next time, you called me out into midnight,

I remember your laughter 

echoing from your diaphragm

against my hips as we embraced.



And you told me

you wanted to live in a house 

on a beach in Oregon

with a man who didn’t care 

who else held you.



You were not done with me yet,

you tracked me to the restaurant kitchen

and my fellow fry-cook, fresh from Viet Nam,

homed on to your come-hither

you sashayed into his arms

before I could ready my heart

for the shock of seeing love

when she looks at another.



Forty years later

I revisit these adventures in heartbreak

marooned here with only

this last memory for company.

Today you’re a schoolteacher in Queens,

but on my desert island

you’re the fire of my wan signal

to the passing ships of time

that love’s reckoning

still waits on this empty beach 

for another beginning.







ver. 1



I massaged your back 

while Rainy Night in Georgia played.

A rabbi’s daughter, dark princess, 

you called me out 

into the early spring night,

I remember only your laughter 

against my loins,



you told me of your lovers,

you wanted to live in a house 

on a beach in Oregon

with a man who didn’t care 

who else held you.



The next night you appeared

and a hot rod angel

homed on to your come hither

before I could ready my heart

for the shock of seeing love

when she is not looking.