Sol Serenade

Sol Serenade - Soul Serenade - Sole Serenade

by Laura Summerville Reed

I drive

For the joy of it

No destination in mind

aside from the asphalt beneath the tires

The hum of the music from my car stereo

pressing into my spine urges me forward

I drive until the hum settles in

It has

Oddly - I’m drawn to the right

I usually turn left

Toward the rock jetty

where the fishermen fish

in lieu of the expanse of

swimsuit sauntered,

high-rise back dropped,

sugary-white sand on the opposite side

But today, my soul hears a song

that my ears haven’t, yet.

To one whose soul must wear a watch

I am not at all beach prepared.

I’ve not come equipped with the standard issue:

beach towel, swimsuit, sunscreen, cooler,

snacks, drinks, beach ball, frisbee, kite, umbrella,

sand bucket, float and folding chair.

but I’m prepared enough.

I lean against a creasote darkened pier post

Sitting alone, enjoying the solitude it affords

The crowds are all at the water’s edge

Splashing, to no avail, applying, frying, reapplying

letting their children feed cheese doodles

to flocks of seagulls and taking offense

when nature shits on the little one’s heads.

From time to time, my ears pick up a melody

over the din of shouts and laughter, greedy gulls

and the ocean breeze. A skinny kid with a guitar

slung on his tattooed back breaks away from his friends

makes his way across the sand toward me.

“Do you have a cigarette?” he wants to know

“Would you like to hear a song?”

His friends are going to eat

(and re-stock their supply of cigarettes, I’m sure)

He’d rather sit in the sun with his guitar and sing

…If that’s all right with me

It’s very all right with me

Between his songs we chat

My Beach Troubadour is going to be a folk musician

Travel the land playing to small venues

of faithful followers

Today he has chosen and audience of one

My soul has a serenade

He strums familiar tunes, and original compositions

He apologizes with crude language and rough words

for the sensitivity of the songs he writes

His brother is in Iraq

As soon as he’s returned from war

They will hit the road and

Life will begin

The sun has made long shadows of us both

©LSR 2010