Sunbathing Poem by Robert Rorabeck

Smells of delight and smells of genies: I have only so many
Wishes-
The petting zoo is in the back of my neighborhood: My Alma,
My soul is slight enough to fit into a bag,
But she already has two children: I want to sing to her, and coax
Her into my house: I want to learn better Spanish to woo her,
To make her my chicana spouse;
And the ways are all entranced up again today, swallowing the
Losing species down beside the meters of a parade:
I park my car and stand as tall as I can stand, and hold my vampired
Neck straight up to heal by the salted endives birthed from her,
Exhumed from the sun: For here is the most ancient tombs of
Our species, still wreathing and broiling upwards, showing to our
Forbearing angels the offspring of her green weddings:
She holds them up for a little while, spilled like wetted chandeliers from
Her caesuras, and then they are lunged back down again
And disappear into the gowns of her eternal wedding, as she swims
Around in a dance that will last as long as a marble swirling in an
Uncountable pool, lost by the nascent fingers of a child
As he plays a game, as his topless mother is sunbathing.