I shall live by the ocean and walk a sandy shore.
And there shall I find a long boardwalk
with benches worn rough, and toddlers
dripping ice cream and seagulls divebombing
elephant ears on paper plates.
Sandpipers on spindle-legs dare the waves.
Lost car keys, found, and red crabs burrow down.
A good dog at my side, shaking off, ready to go.
​
             Children, when it’s time,​
             will you find for me​
             a headstone crumbling,​
             my name already faded?​
             Visitors will wonder​
             at such a dusty grave, so dark​
             yet lush with honeysuckle.​
             How beautiful that shall be​
             and so fine,​
             so far from the sea.​
 

Image credit:Frank McKenna

Mary MacGowan's chapbook, Spider Lake, was published by Kattywompus Press in 2019. She earned her M.Lit with a poetry writing concentration from Drew University. She got her master's in Art Therapy from Pratt Institute in 2002. She's has had over 100 poems featured in literary journals such as Adelaide, Dash, Change Seven, The Literary Review, The South Carolina Review, Apple Valley Review, POEM, and Manorborn. She enjoys slow walks to catch the poem.