B.Z. Niditch: poem

ESPLANADE

Some have bodies in the sun
are landscaped or nudes
when visions and passions
give way to colonial statues
a lost child on the deck chair
leans away from the poker players
while a gentleman all in Sunday white
with a stolen picture Bible
escapes to forbidden pleasures
on a bed of green leaves
near a path of wine bottles
and under the hooded bridge
where the caressing river
darkens the underbranch daylight
near a paradise of boats
heated in limbo
two shadows near the sea
take in each other's burnished lives.

B.Z. Niditch is a poet, playwright, and short story writer. His many credits include Affair of the Mind, Angelflesh, The Denver Quarterly, Devil Blossoms, The Literary Review, and The Plastic Tower. His collection, Crucifixion Times was published in 1998. His most recent offering is The Inside-out World of B.Z. Niditch published by Lummox Press as part of their "Little Red Book Series."