Around the Pool

sitting around the pool,
drinking margaritas,
you hear the chatter of men in plaid
beach wear,
the women in white,
bejeweled and tightened by
good surgeons from
jersey or new York.

sunburned and half lit
from pina coladas,
all talking about their boats,
how large, how much larger
the new one is,
how they live on them, where they
go.
where they dock. what it
costs to fill them up.
it's all money talk.
bragging without bragging.

my boat is bigger than yours,
they whisper beneath
their salty breath.
they pretend to be sailors.
it's an illusion of grandeur.
of being one with the sea,
the world, nature, God.
it's worse than listening to
people talk about golf.