Poem of the month May 2021.
This month’s poem goes with my U-tube video If I could Go Anywhere, out any day now.
Papagayo is Spanish for parrot, and the beach is on Lanzarote in the Canary islands. We have visited Lanzarote a couple of times. The poem tires to capture some of its magic.
Papagayo Beach
You said driving there was like driving in Africa,
negotiating potholes and watching sky.
One hundred steps down, or so
leaving the wind and the noisy cafes above us.
I watched you walk into the sea, felt the lurch of the heart
that I get when I watch you ride away on your bicycle,
or when I know you are on a plane,
that has more to do with love than fear.
Far out, white boats, and by my hand
pink rock flowers I can’t name;
then the novelty of food out of doors
after our long wet winter far away.
Afterwards, having climbed to the top
I look back and far below, the water
is clear blue green, and, as never before
I think of heaven as beneath us.