No place for mermaids

Hot concrete on bare feet
Suitcase seeping sand and paper notes
Filled with hopes

Pausing

Untangling
Hair caught in
Golden loops
and glass beaded necklace hanging loose between her breasts

Tick

Crossing on green frozen
Restocked sea of
Vacant drivers
Forestalling flood of dull dreaming tourists

Safely hitting the curb

Water
Pearls
Her top lip
Determined
Softened a bit by lipstick
Taking a long drink of the foam colored building
Facing east this time
A right to a claim


She is leaving
Her trail
So slight
A scent
Gardenias like a long silk scarf floating on the wind
Grains of sand

Left
Pieces
For the next Mermaid
Lured by the beauty of this sea