by Carolyn Martin
Would the woman who was seated in 14C
proceed to Baggage Claim to retrieve
one husband and four checked bags.
He regrets what he said on Kamaole Beach.
He didn’t mean you looked overweight
in your Costco one-piece—although he maintains
you’ve griped incessantly about pounds
amassed during the quarantine.
He meant “rounding out” as a joke.
Truth is, I understand. Not
the fudging of his jibe—that was lame—
but additions to tummies and thighs.
Diets never work, so vanity’s a vice I’ve trashed.
I’m at the age when … but I digress.
Attention, 14C. Your husband’s stuck
at the Alaska carousel. He’s the one
pacing in a Hilo Hattie’s shirt,
mopping heat off his sunburned face.
Carolyn Martin, from associate professor of English to management trainer to retiree, is a lover of gardening and snorkeling, feral cats and backyard birds, writing and photography. Her poems have appeared in more than 130 journals and anthologies throughout North America, Australia, and the UK. Her fifth collection, The Catalog of Small Contentments, will be released in 2021. Currently, she is the poetry editor of Kosmos Quarterly: journal for global transformation. Subhasree Soorya is busy every day with classical dance lessons, music, painting, and mural art alongside shooting videos for social media. This 22-year-old final year BCom student sits in the evening on the long veranda of her ancestral home in Mahe, India and weaves her dreams of becoming a noted artist someday.
Global Poemic 