The sun, between the clouds, brings bursts of searing heat
The wind too competes
Whips up and takes command!
Mine is the only umbrella that won’t stay standing
Cursing, I throw it down beside me on the sand!
The wild wind winds me up!
The sun burns my skin
My shins attract an army
of tiny black winged things
as they congregate at my feet
while other, ordinary flies land to vomit and defecate all over my body
making me feel as if I am a cow,
or shit!
Hoppers too,
hop all over me in rapturous delight
as if I am their trampoline!
Torturous!
The bright,
white
sun,
glaring,
blinds me
The clouds,
when they come
to cover the sun,
make me shiver
My towel is covered in sand,
as I am
A sticky mess!
The wind whips
and rips each page of my book
where I hold it down
making me groan and frown
and forget what I’ve read,
over and over again
‘til I have a pain
in my head
The metal of my deckchair
digs into my back
Dried out, thick, black
seaweed carpet
runs the full length of the beach
Like an endless, mangey, flattened dog
waiting to be soaked again soon,
housing all the flies
that infuriate and defy me
My burnt body fries!
I go in the water to cool it down but it’s ice!
Like being stabbed with a million tiny knives!
And even though I swim all year ‘round at home,
it’s too cold to swim here!
Pregnant, pretty girls
perch serenely
under perfect pouts
and umbrellas
With their little golden baby balls
Like models
and I wonder
if I still look of an age to pretend I’m pregnant too,
to excuse
my big, brazen, babyless belly
Beached whale!
Everyone here is bronzed and beautiful
I would like to lie down and sleep,
but I know I run the risk of
being burnt to a crisp!
So, instead,
I continue
to curse the worthless,
useless umbrella
that lies beside me in two pieces
and try to ignore the pain of the bar against my back
as I swat the flies and burn
and mourn and yearn
for youth and thinness
Needing to pee,
I painstakingly
trudge through the deep, blistering, burning sand
to the apartment 500 yards behind me
Ten, if I’d taken the space nearest, but I thought I’d find a better one
I was wrong
Children of every tongue
shout and nag and cry
nearby
Wrecking my head!
At the water’s edge
bodacious bikini’d babes!
Airbrushed bodies,
boobs and bums out
Laughing and loving life!
Couples playing paddleball
Lovers strolling, kissing, cuddling
And I look on
Alone
Face plastered with wind-wrecked, matted hair!
One hand clinging onto my pesky umbrella pole,
resurrected for the thousandth time,
that keeps threatening to bolt!
The other hand holding a can of now, warm beer
I’d grabbed from the fridge
Balancing a packet of crisps on my pretend pregnant belly,
covered in crumbs
Observing all the dead black bugs stuck onto my factor fifty freshly sunscreen’d legs
and the live ones itching me silly, all over!
Pissed off the beer appears to have made me need to pee, again!
And pondering,
do I really love the beach abroad in scorching Summer sun
as much as I always thought I did..
And
in this sensual sea of
gorgeous, glowing, golden
Gods and Goddesses
I wonder (as I often do)
Is it me?..
And
if I am,
in fact,
an alien after all...
I miss you and that beach