Sonoma
light rotates
morning to noon
olive branches sway
meatheads in the pool
drink vodka lemonade
bees work the lavender
the wind drops
American flags
shrug and go limp
children wrinkle
in chlorine
summer moves on
super-moon rises
over rows of grape vines
sign of a good year
Milos
I put my wife and boys
on a boat off a southern beach
my stomach is no good on boats
the wind was down
the sea flat and green
Later, the wind rose
a single bell tolled
from the Byzantine tower
cicadas sawed from a
bent eucalyptus
in the church square
but I don’t believe in omens
Tonight, after my family
have rinsed the salt and
suncream from their skin
we will eat our last dinner
on Milos
wine, olives
scorpion fish
Who knows
what change
will have come?
An executive coach and professional songwriter, David Rosenheim lives in a solar-powered house by the sea with his wife and two boys. The Weather Band, Hugh, and Winchester Revival have released his songs on seven critically lauded records, and his poetry has been published or is pending publication in journals including California Quarterly, The San Antonio Review, The Adirondack Review, Frigg, Common Ground, and the forthcoming anthology, Grief Becomes You. He is a graduate of Oxford University.
be a willing promoter of any of his published poems.