Monday, December 17, 2018

if the light won't stop you the ocean will





















then i saw the light
and the palm trees
and the tourists
asking for directions
which in key west
can mean a lot of different things
variations on the theme
     like where did the old man
really hang out
wasn't it sloppy something
and when does the sunset celebration
begin
and who were the original people here
before the conchs

all of this might be so irrelevant
or maybe it's what's
really relevant
in a hedonistic world

even if you missed
all the happenings
fifty years ago
there's still these small wood-frame
artist cottages
next to the key west cemetery
that sing thru the night
just a few decibels below
the crowing of the roosters
     still free
before the storm

--- e b bortz

2 comments:

Eric said...

Exactly how it feels! Sloppy Joe's touristic facade today ain't anything like what it must have been -- just one of many gin joints in all of the world. And if only they had read "To Have and Have Not" they would know what a "Conch" is. I just got the hat and ate the conch tacos .... but then again, maybe in literary terms and the original Key West lifestyle, you're alot closer to Ernest Hemingway and Jimmy Buffet than you think? (That's actually a complement on originality).

e b bortz said...

many thanks Eric...and you are funny!