Poems Niederngasse
Alice Folkart
Holy Sea

Is there a Fourth-of-July Church of God in Christ?
Maybe here, in Paradise, on this hot sand
by the warm green sea, presided over by wise old turtles,
deaconed by darting yellow and black striped Moorish Idols (converted).
At dawn today, on Kaimala beach, near Waikiki,
two dozen respectful humans in polo shirts and baseball caps,
dark, dark sunglasses, carrying umbrellas, bags and bundles, towels,
followed a fat blond man in tan shorts, white tee and red golf visor
belly-button deep into the opalescent waters of life
flashing photos of each other,
as, one by one, he held their noses closed
and, fully clothed, rocked them backwards in a graceful tango move,
immersing them in the tender little waves,
showing off for the needle fish.
He smiled big for the cameras.
The baby Christians came up sputtering into their new lives.
Fish scattered this way and that.
The white pigeons were more interested in bites from my spam musubi.
They like the rice.

round IV, poem 29, 4 Jul 2005

Alice Folkart lives in Los Angeles, California. Her short story, The Lie appears in the March 2005 issue of Long Story Short.  email:  Alice Folkart