Speedos

Last night at the Vancouver Barnes & Noble poetry series, one of the featured readers was Crystal Williams. She gave us a fun exercise: made us list all the words we associate with beaches. In a few minutes we came up with about 50 words.

Then she said: "Now write a descriptive poem set at a beach-- without using any of these words."

Here's my attempt:

Speedos

It's all about guys in Speedos.
Sleek bronzes, silhouetted against a colorless backdrop--
drab, textured substance underfoot, gray clouds, gray Pacific, gray smooth rocks,
smooth, rock-hard abs glinting with oil
and not so much covered, as outlined by Spandex.
Perched up there on his wooden tower while
little old ladies walk past with their eyes on the ground
as if
the hollow mineral forms left behind by mollusks with bodies like old pencil erasers
could compare with the young David on his throne!
Well. I came to enjoy the scenery.
As my grandma always said
"Ain't no harm in looking."

Collection available! Knocking from Inside