A Poem by Erren Geraud Kelly

The Queen of Old Orchard Beach Maine

every summer, she comes here
between tours
the emo kids mixing in
perfectly with the baby
boomers

she rests on the beach, with a
shadow of a ferris wheel
in the background
every summer, she comes
just when the lobster boats
are holding sway, far off into the
ocean

she'll take off her top
and the sun will make love
to her body

she always wears wayfarers,
though the shopkeepers say
her blue eyes pierce like
swords

I have been brave enough to
walk over to her a few times,
and say "hello,"
once, pretending my beach
ball went over by
mistake

she just smiled in that way
people who are affluent do,

it was a miracle!

on her right leg,
were the names of her
nieces and nephews, she
says

an older couple sitting not
far from us, says
the government should do
a better job of guarding its
borders

blonde hair covers her face,
like a shaggy dog;
she brushes it back
I react as if
I've seen an epiphany
she asks me who's better
miles davis or john coltrane?
I don't immediately answer

i'm transfixed by the
tattoo on her right arm
the one of the French flag
with the term under it that reads
liberte, egalite, fraternite

Erren Geraud Kelly is a pushcart nominated poet based in Los Angeles, has been writing for 25 years and has over 100 publication in print and online in such publications as Hiram Poetry Review, Mudfish, Poetry Magazine (online), Ceremony, Cactus Heart, Similar Peaks, Gloom Cupboard, Poetry Salzburg and other publications.  Most recently, Erren was in "In Our Own Words," a Generation X poetry anthology, and has also been published in other anthologies such as "Fertile Ground," "Beyond the Frontier," and others.  Erren's work can also be seen on YouTube under the "Gallery Cabaret" links.