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
