by Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo

Beatles by campfire on acoustic guitars,
smoked air mixing in salt ocean mist,
marshmallow torches, melted shoes
kept too long by the fire pit,

Ditch’em under a full moon,
percolating coffee on kerosene stoves,
waving to smeared faces on a silver bullet
Amtrak, bronzed boys running a football

down the sand, banana yellow boogie board,
threatening seaweed tangled around legs,
pelting surf, a gasp for air,
dug up sand fleas tickling the palm,

wet towels lined on tents drying in midday sun,
black tar stuck to feet, Mom’s turpentine
remedies in quarter operated showers,
long naps in low hammocks,

zipped up gossip whispered across
canvas sleeping bags, cooing with a crush
perched in a tree tucked away by leaves,
Sunday morning trash pick up: horse shoe,

bottle cap, Tile Rummy red #2, gum wrapper.
If only childhood could be as easily retrieved,
but even as I write, the picture smears like
the day outside my window on the drive back home.

Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo is the author of the poetry collection Posada: Offerings of Witness and Refuge (2016). She has published her work in The American Poetry Review, Crazyhorse, CALYX Journal, and The Acentos Review, among other publications. She earned a BA in theatre arts from California State University Long Beach and an MFA in creative writing from Antioch University Los Angeles. In 2017 she was named the first “Poets in the Park” artist-in-residence at Gettysburg National Military Park. She lives in Los Angeles.