Beach Vacation - June 18 2023

 

Beach Vacation

June 18 2023

You imagined all-day sun

and an all-over tan,

hot sand

between your toes.

But instead

it's sand up you crack,

invisible bugs

biting hard-and-fast.

The beach sand

you hot-foot across

after baking all day;

the sunburn

you felt too late.

The salt water

that goes up your nose,

jellyfish

lurking just offshore.

Not to mention

the rip-tide, red-tide

sand-flies and mites,

the crab army

scuttling out every night.

No, the beach vacation

isn't all it's made out to be.

The crowd and the noise

and even the smell.

The rotting seaweed

they raked to one side.

The stale/sweet bouquet

of cigarettes and tanning oil,

the yeasty scent

of spilled beer

fermenting by itself.

Middle-aged women

showing too much skin,

pot-bellied men

with their Speedos stretched thin.

Whatever happened

to the modest frilly one-piece

and long baggy dad-trunks?

So for me

it's indoors

air conditioned

artificial light,

a tall stiff drink

on plenty of ice.