THE SIDEWALK

Long walk,
Lumina Avenue bustling,
Spring repairs,
Painters,
Gardeners,
Pine straw mulch nestles floral splendor.
Cool breeze,
Honeysuckle wafting,
One-speed, old-time bicycles,
Made to last,
New generation pedaling,
As it should,
We've ridden far too long.

MERRIMENT

On the beach,
Six children
Digging,
Running,
Laughing,
Squealing,
Building castles and
Greeting the surf.

Oops,
Mom patrol,
"Settle down,
You're having too much fun."

ON THE BEACH

Abandoned, yellow, plastic starfish smiling,
Passed on to waving toddler.
Pampered child crying,
Enjoying being inconsolable

Bikini body show,
Strutting wares,
Muscled surfboard daddies,
Looking cool

Nippy, at eighty-three,
A true beauty queen

No perfect shells for me,
But shards tumbled smooth,
In dancing patterns, and
Glistening hues of ruby-red,
Gold-to-brown, gray and white

BRUNCH AT THE CAUSEWAY CAFE

Menu reads:
Good home cooking,
Breakfast all day,
Big fat biscuits,
Omelets with scallops, shrimp and grouper
Lunch,
Seafood, wrapped or sandwiched,
Gumbo,
Vegetable plates of okra, zucchini, fried-green tomatoes and more

Betty, wizened waitress,
Face tells she smoked too long.
"How big is a grouper," I asked?
"A red fish," she says. "He's a pretty big boy."
"She is too," I say.
Betty smiles.

Cat, short for Catherine,
High school senior,
Waiting tables,
Plans on college,
Maybe Wake Forest
Or, first,
A semester in Africa on mission trip.

"Africa's more fun," say I.
"College will always be there."

On exiting, feels like home.
"Be back later," I say.
Cat and Betty nod.

NIPPY

Southern landlady,
Nippy, spunky at 83,
With 55 lived on this North Carolina beach

Downstairs, she quietly holds vigil
Over the comings and goings of her tenants and the sea.

She rents two units,
Each a little bit of heaven,
With seaside decks and four blue rockers.

Widowed in the 1990s, Nippy has one living son,
Jim, "a lawyer," who has two sons.
Alex is a chief neurology resident at Boston University, and
Cliff is a Winston-Salem "lawyer."

With a gleam in her eye,
Nippy introduced Cliff's wife, GiGi,
A Wake Forest resident,
Internal medicine this one.
"She'll be chief resident next year," said Nippy.

Nippy had another son, Neil,
Who graduated college and
Died climbing rocks.

"At least he died doing something he loved," says Nippy.
"It's easier to accept that way,
Than if he had been killed by a drunk driver or an overdose."

Attending her last high school reunion,
Nippy said, "Everyone introduced themselves as lawyers, doctors, judges and such.
I wondered what on earth I was going to say when came my turn.
Then, it came to me," she laughed. "I said I was in resort rentals.

NORTH CAROLINA BEACH

Arrival,
Ocean greets me.
"Welcome back."
Birds aflutter
Over balcony crumbs,
Long, hot bath,
Yoga stretches,
Seaside serenade,
Bed more comfy than my rumble seat


Addendum: On this trip, for speed and economy, I slept in the back seat of my vehicle.