Beach

Beach

The waves lap on a city beach
Like desperate fingers weakly reaching
Out for the edge of the cliff
A child learning to swim cries
Between determined adult hands,
Tiny arms flailing and failing
To communicate the terror.

Under the gaze of the horizon's
Hard verticals of industry
Plastic spades and buckets manufacture
Canals and castles at the sea's edge;
Half the fun is the race against time,
The thrill of impermanence.

Towels perched on a bed of sand
And shells and broken glass,
Out of water we dry our naked skin,
Your team is heading for a win
Your crackly messenger cries
Above the babble of the traffic going by.

And putting trust in the desperate kind of
Niceness of it all,
It's like learning to swim -
It's better than drowning after all.

And as the sun goes out we congregate on cooling sand,
Eat chips, walk the dog,
Ride on the conversation of friends
Or huddle with our choice of drug
And sleep amongst oblivion,
The city concurs
And merges with the stars

And putting trust in the desperate kind of
Niceness of it all,
It's like learning to swim -
It's better than drowning after all.

© Brendan Bonsack
December 2010

1. Little
2. Everything They Said
3. Unattended Luggage
4. Your Tree
5. Fear of Balloons
6. Love Love Love Love Love
7. Here it Is
8. A Time Traveler's Lament
9. Evolution
10. Beach

You Are Here
Released December 2010