NoDeepThing by hotpiehot

   lost then abandoned
   after a minute of searching for it
   the ball lay on the sand inches
   from the bubbles of waves
   as doris skipped on playing with bobby
   up the dune to the buick when
   the hermit crab
   tested the ball with its claw
   and doris' skirt caught in the door bobby slamned
   hard with his smile that careened over the horizon of the    world
   then crashed on her lip fleetingly as a bee dizzy with honey
   that the clouds blow away

   so
   the red ball sloshed against a wave
   errant from a memory that started in the fire of a heart    dropped at sea in the maw of a white whale
   how could doris know
   the smile a ball mimicks
   as it laughs on the tickle of the ocean's playing
   as it forgets awhile the kids who squeezed it
   who tossed it to seagulls swooping for bugs
   against the sea wind and against this then that wonderful    then invisible thing

   and bobby sputtered to her, I'll never forget this day    because this is the day that will never end
   I have been waiting for

   and
   doris sighed, where shall we spend eternity, bobby
   bobby, your name begins with b, like balloon
   like billion like bourbon like bullshit

   and bobby said with his finger, beyond waits a cheap    motel with fireflies this night and pale spring water and    singing stars and there time sleeps there eternity plays a    violin forever

   so doris looked hard to the rock and the highway and the    aching blue
   where bobby promises no walls and vanilla mints glint on    marigolds dancing in the sun frozen under
   a storm of legs of jellyfish wishes
   where the impossible steams like pancakes on syrup at    mornings in burger king
   and all dreams lay beneath the christmas tree of his    adoration boxed in ribbons of kisses

   that's unforgivable, bobby
   doris said, how dare you -
   I dare - , bobby licked her finger nails
   - but to lie to me! doris pouted, to toy with me thusly
   in order to remembert this thursday,
   how evil can you get!

   the hermit crab nudged it
   a seagull pecked on it
   then a wave spun it
   and a breeze pushed it up

   I know what is imposible, doris protested
   I know what can be done and what cannot be,
   she pointed to her upraised knee,
   this is as brown as this will be,
   and she pointed to the rock on the far highway,
   that rock is the hardest it will ever be,
   then she swirled around to confront the sea,
   that ocean is the deepest thing I know,
   and she pointed up to the sky,
   I will never be that high

   but bobby only smiled,
   why do you bother such obvious things, my love?
   this buick on the sand is just a toy from walgreens
   I need not say it
   morning may never come
   and
   yesterday's aches are best forgotten
   such wisdom is the cheapest candy,
   he said as a whirl of dust settled
   and doris laughed, kicking the buick
   her skirt flooding the sky with cotton cartoons
   and slimy salt from her thigh

   bobby stuck out his tongue, tugging up his ears
   but I am only eight and you are only ten! eight and ten!    eight and ten!
   tra-la-la! tra-la-la! sticks and stones may break me bones
   but words will never hurt me! bbahhhh! bahhh! bah!!
   you're dumb!
   I see your underpants!

   red and blue with yellow stars
   the ball rose on a strange white wave
   high
   high
   high
   made of rubber and bruised in places
   seagulls chased it out
   diving, skimming the foam
   squaking at the brave fat thing
   till bored and confused they abandoned it
   a red dot
   seeemingly far away
   bobbing across the horizon
   suddenly in the clean sky

   gimme a kiss, cum'on
   nobody'll know, i promise, I won't ever tell
   i wanna know what it feels like on the lips. a long one.
   I'll tell your mother, bobby!
   doris said.

   they went home. nobody mentioned the ball.
   it was somewhere on the beach. they would find it    tomorrow.
   nobody would steal it. it was too cheap.
   the red and blue thing with yellow stars.