Monday, May 20, 2013

Water Fire

If you have ever been to Providence, RI, you have experienced the beauty of the water fire. They have them every summer. I have gone to several and loved them. I am going there this weekend to do a book talk. 

This is my poem about the Water Fire

Water Fire

Italian Music Plays
Throwback
Simpler times
Fire crackles

Laughing and observing
At the passerbys
Gloating that everyone is looking
Superstar

Providence
Capital City in a Small town
Entwined into one
Cobblestone streets meets gritty city feel

Cape Verde Immigrants
Meet Nathaniel Hawthorne
And Roger Williams
Meets a drag queen

Fire snaps
Reaches to breathe
Searching for it’s pulse
In the night air

Fire licks
Spits in irony
At the lovers
Kissing and licking on the gondolas

Fire laughs
Dances like a child
Free and uninhibited
No rules

Fire warms
Blanket against the late summer air
Ending of hot sidewalks
To Autumnal New England

Fire Guides
Against the dark night
The beacon to the lonely
That there is hope

Brown Ivy Leaguers
Sure in their intellectual stride
Discuss liberal politics
Over iced cream

RISD girls
Swarm with their tattoos
Designs their own
But amazed at the design of the night

Other college students
Look for love
Look for themselves
Look for ideas

In the reflection of the water
Reflection of themselves
As the accordion plays
And the man sings on the gondola

In the water
They see mud
They see darkness
They see unknown

In the water
They see themselves
Through the light
They see the path

To love
To life
To liberty
To adulthood

Townies share their tales
Drunken yarns
About the drunken townie girls
They all share

Townies
College kids
Families
Lovers walk together

Fire and water
Friend and foe
Together for one night
The main event

No comments:

Post a Comment