Along the Beaches of Rio

First published in Meniscus, Vol 9 Issue 1, Jul 2021

De Janeiro, I walk until my feet burn

like pistachio shells rubbed against concrete

and blistered into thighs. Golden brown locals

and overdone tourists laugh as they improvise

volleyball, dive head-first into each other. I sip

a cocktail from the belly of a coconut, trust

my phone alone on shore. Step further out

until I’m shoulder-deep only to bodysurf

back to shallows then repeat. A woman points

to where my phone rests. A wave has swept

in like a pickpocket’s sleight of hand, too quick

for my eye. As I rush to turn it on, a yellow

photo crinkles across-screen, hovers

for a moment. In frame, you’re laughing,

bare chest peeling with a fierce sunburn

You hold your empty fishing line high

and proud overhead as if to say, It’s okay,

son. Not all drowned things are lost.