West End
for Susan Wallace,
Ed Bethel & D.B.A.

always a pitcher of me
enough to squander

left like lemonade
instead of upon a shelf in the refrigerator
on the kitchen cabinet

pitcher of me without regret to pitch out

there is just so much of it, of me you see
enough to be scornful of
day after day, to pitch out

Ed Bethel,
Susan Wallace's double first cousin,
children of two brothers of West End,
Grand Bahama, who married two sister,
told me of how stalled he always was of lobster
how he came to hate being made to eat it

someone or other always boiling them up
to save them, to use them up

he and everyone else had them to eat
without end

fishermen came in with their catch
and dumped lobster they caught
upon the dock

they were for whoever wanted them
to pick up and take home

I grew up over-the-hill, in Nassau
in my house, we never had lobster
maybe minced on a couple of occasions
and I got so little I am unable to recall

but the luxury of broiled lobster,
one upon my plate all to myself
was a treat and a luxury
withheld from me until I was
with my brother, Kevin,
all grown up, visiting Exuma

it was the most expensive item
on the menu of that restaurant
upon a hill, where we went to eat

I wanted to try it, Kevin insisted
that I did

this girl in my life, in high school still
has a poet all to herself
to neglect however she wishes
to dismiss if she wishes

unable to get him to go away
however badly she treats him


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2010
5:07 a.m. 01.12.10