Author’s Note: This is a slightly modified version of a poem I wrote in the early 1990’s (which explains some of the dated references) and published in Avant, the literary magazine of Rowan University.
Wildwood
Suntanners sizzled
beneath a blazing blue sky…
Screams
from the Sea Serpent seared my ears…
I kissed Kayla’s lips as we caressed
in the sand, singing a lover’s song…
At night we walked
the boards, our hands a single limb,
the wood creaking beneath our feet,
Dracula’s Castle’s eerie organ
… echoing …
in our ears…
An abundance of carnival games beckoned
my business and I finally gave in,
blowing twenty bucks on a ten-buck teddy bear
for Kayla…
By the amateur singing studio
a group gathered to guffaw
at a girl’s butchering
of Mariah Carey…
Across the boardwalk sat the
Old Fashioned Photo Booth
where Kayla and I
were once Bonnie and Clyde…
We stopped at Mack’s and I
salivated
as my nose picked up
the scent of scorching pizza.
The cheese, still boiling
when I took my first bite,
stuck to and stung my tongue
while the excess oil
… oozed …
out the corners of my mouth…
We washed the pizza down with a Lime Ricky
and indulged in some chocolate fudge
before suddenly jumping to avoid
a yellow monster shouting at us to
watch the tram car, please…
As the night grew old
the piers closed and the people departed,
leaving me alone with Kayla,
lying in the sand and
staring at the starlit sky
accented by the crescent moon,
and listening to the sweet soothing sound
of the ocean in motion
Michael Rappa 