Keith Francese writes

barbs

I lie in the sun 

beside a woman 

far-too-pretty. 

she is all

 

brown wet skin, shiny, 

very little bathing suit, 

and yet, at this moment, 

terribly cold

…

 

three children in the surf 

beat a dead jellyfish 

with a white coral rock 

far-too-many times.

it all comes apart

and lies in the sun. 

the tide lapping 

at its insides.