FEEL OF FREEDOM.

A GIRL ON THE BEACH SENSING FREEDOM.

The parents are up
At the bar on the beach,

So you liberate one of
Your mother’s smokes

And light it with the
Plastic lighter she’d

Picked up on a bus
And look to see if she’s

Looking, but no, she’s
Too busy laughing with

The barmen and your
Father’s chatting up

Some woman with a
Large a*s, so you think,

What the heck and walk
Along the beach, a nine

Year old girl with the
Bummed smoke, thinking

The sea looks a long way
Off and you can smell the

Stink of hot human flesh
And the noise of their

Laughter and shouts and
Moans and groans and

Watch as they play beach
Ball or chase darn dogs

Or kiss lips or just lay
There soaking up cancer,

And you can smell the sea
And the wind in your hair

And looking back, you see
Nothing now of the parents,

See only the wide sweep of
Humanity beneath the sun,

The sky, the gulls, sailing
Boats far out at sea and

Swimmers waving, calling,
And you stand momentarily

And feel the breeze finger
Your hair and sense for the

First time that feel of freedom,
That sense of being you, the

Parent’s little girl, taking a long
Drag on the cigarette, the smoke

Rising, you remembering your
Father’s friend, wanting to forget.