The clouds were tired of smelling my feet – 
old man legs that swing, swing, 
until toes stub the sky – 

God's vast blue nostril inhaling 
summer's residue and blister, 
dead skin of bestsellers litters the beach 

OK, no, only my face in the towel bag 
huffing sunscreen fumes; 
you said it was time to go 

For all good things must come to an end, 
like Columbus I sail 
off the edge of the world 

Pull the ripcord and parachute with all the others 
in our Chevy Niñas, Pintas, and Santa Marias 
down I-95 into Manhattan 

Hurricane of returning vacationers, 
lightning flash turn signals, 
children the howling wind and rain in McDonalds 

And you, as always, in the passenger seat 
with your movie star face – 
oversized sunglasses and bored look 

We hang suspended, swaying 
from the ends of steel cables on the GW bridge, 
close enough now we can smell New Jersey 

You say, as you always do: 
"Never again. Never." 
The dogs need to pee. 

The Sunday Muse

Tenor:	Dogman
Soprano:	Seagulls, various
Basso Profundo:	The Seal
Chorus:	Beach bums
The Band:	Banjofish, Harmonicafish, Washboardfish, Jugfish

Act 1, Scene 1:	Dogman, walking the beach.
	He contemplates, life, death, and hotdogs.

Dogman:	This hotdog sings the mustard, sings the relish, relish the sky, relish the beach, my tongue in a pickle all day la la.
Beach Bums:	Yes! Yes! Sing with relish!
Dogman:	Sing with abandon! But abandon means bereft. I sing and am alone forever, my lungs lost in a forest of breath.
Beach Bums:	No! No! He must not be lost!
Dogman:	Like Popeye I smoke the spinach of storms. I flex my blimps.
The Seal:	(Burps).
Dogman:	A great fishyness fills the air…
Seagull:	Yessiree yamma yamma fishfishfish.
The Seal:	God said let there be squid, and there was squid.
Seagull:	Yamma yamma squidsquidsquid.
Dogman:	Clams are an open book of wagging tongues, shoal-mamas. I attend death at their pearly gates.
(Clam harmonica  plays…)
Dogman:	I see the angry red kimono of sky open, naked sun flashing the sea.
Beach Bums:	What do you see, oh what do you see?
Dogman:	I see ramshackle clamshackle clamtastic fantastic hallelujah.
	The Sea Hag tosses my fate like dice eyes.
	Snakes in the house of Fate, spots scratched out, rolling blind.
Seagull:	Yamma yamma
Dogman:	The sky’s white lei’s of lightning, welcome to stormwash.
	Flowers of heathen dance shock my neck.
	My Popeye’s sailor pants are salted and scrimmed and scrummed.
Beach Bums:	“O Fortuna velut luna statu variabilis, semper crescis aut decrescis”*
Dogman:	Oh monsterous fate! Whirling wheel, malevolent and vain.
(Clam harmonica, repeat)
Dogman:	Is there no shelter from this sky? Is there no hotdog for those shriven of sin?
Seagull:	Yamma hotdoghotdog. Absolution and Cheez-its!
Dogman:	Fortune, speak plainly now. I beseech you!
(Thunder rolls in the distance)
Dogman:	Lo! I have had a vision! I abandon this hotdog to the gulls. I craven crave crave but a Mermaid taco! This shall fulfill me at last. To feast on a Chimera!
Seagulls: (unison)	Skree! Skree!

Act 1, Scene 2	A simple cottage near the shore.
	A mermaid hangs wash on the line
	She, struggles to remain upright…

*"O Fortune,
like the moon
you are changeable,
ever waxing
ever waning"

-- Carmina Burana 

The Sunday Muse