Florida Holiday

my new sandals
on the conveyor belt—
Austin airport

clouds above
clouds below
the flight attendant’s smile

Spanish moss weighs
down the cypress—
long drive ahead

almost eighty
but my mother’s voice
when I was five

Marco!
Polo!
I leave the pool

Congo River golf…
in the water hazard
lotus flowers

tourist shop colors
in the sky—
Clearwater sunset

waiting for dad’s
meds to kick in
his beer bottle shakes

thousands of shell
fragments fill my hands
not yet sand, not yet

Fourth of July
every night in Orlando
my son asks why?

sand in our pockets
we wave goodbye—
darkening clouds