First Day in Sydney, 1992

It’s Bondi Beach and the boys
are building a sand sculpture this really
amazing merman and it’s a boys-only thing
even though we know that’s dumb but I’m trying
to be cool in the boil of wearing just a swimsuit
although, really, Valerie’s in a bikini so
the rest of us are moot anyway but it’s too late
for courage they pose in front of the merman
with their bare chests which I’ve never seen on them before
and we take pictures. Joe Sze is hot.
I like Rhett he’s a little Southern
and Christian Brasier who threw my book bag
down the hall every single day
in middle school and still throws it
on top of the lockers sometimes though not when he wants
to copy my Japanese homework looks pretty good
with his shirt off and I don’t like it
that that’s true, he’s in real estate
in Southern California now
I googled him once and then all together 1-2-3
they jump up and down on the merman
and destroy it entirely
and we take pictures of that too.

About the author

Catherine Bull is a poet lately of Portland, Oregon. She has traveled in Australia, Britain, Egypt, France, Greece, Italy, and New Zealand, and and…

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Issue 20 · May 2014

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