gentle water 
lapping the hull 

bossa nova
clinking glasses
a tickle
of the piano's ivory keys
and you're lost

in giant strawberries 
of a daiquiri 
dribbling down your chin 
onto your palm frond top 
and shorts while you

swing and sway
poolside

tomorrow Ocho Rios Jamaica 
but today sun and sea

tonight the crown stars
and a ruby juicy
fingernail moon

Whit Howland © 2019

Carribean Cruise

torchlight dances 
on the aquamarine 
blue of a hotel pool 
deep in 1963 

when happiness
was still on the Hi Fi

coulda woulda shoulda


Whit Howland © 2019