PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN ON THE COAST NEAR HOME
Dark glasses bedim the look.
What concerns him?
He sits on the ledge
of the ocean deck,
leans one forearm
across crossed thighs, torso
akimbo, nonchalance, oh,
like he owns the place.
Red cashmere sweater.
Blue horizon crisp.
Overhead,
the ringing bells of seagulls.
Buoyed boats and
harbor seals poised
on the same rock
in Stillwater Cove
don’t stir
in the seascape cast
into spell.
Impossible
to recall his voice, though.
Diminishing trove—
SONNET FOR MY LATE FATHER
All at once, and for two years now,
the streets still miss the sound of your car.
The older the man, the bigger the engine—
how you loved to prove it.
All at once and for two years,
my porch still waits for
your tasseled leather loafers,
the door, your knuckles’ soft knock,
it swings free for you; I leave it ajar—
all at once, the glass aches
for your drink, the vodka your olives,
best stuffed with blue cheese, they float
in their jar in the fridge, turning,
still untouched.
Kimberly Nunes’s poems have been published in The Alembic, Apricity Magazine, Blue Light Press Anthology, Brushfire, California Quarterly, Caveat Lector, El Portal, Evening Street Review, Mantis, Marin Poetry Center Anthology, The Madison Review, The Round, Spotlog Review, Sweet: A Literary Confection, WomenArts Quarterly Journal, and Adelaide Literary Magazine. Her poem “Morning at Moore’s Lake, Again” was nominated for the 2022 Pushcart Prize. She has attended numerous writing workshops and studied with Marie Howe, Sharon Olds, Ellen Bass, and many others. Kimberly sits on the board of Four Way Books in New York City. She received her MFA in poetry from Sarah Lawrence College. Her hobbies include bird-watching, gardening, swimming, golf, and tennis.