(NaPoWriMo) No. 27 when i am missing miami

(for ian)

when i am missing miami

and try to think just what
it is i am missing, i know
it’s not the place or the light
or even the sea.

i am really missing 1973 or so,

the time in my life
when i didn’t have enough
but didn’t have too much,
didn’t know too much,
hadn’t given my heart
to so much,

when days just unfolded
serendipitously

and unplanned hour after hour
stretched out languidly,

when what i loved most
could sit in a seat
on the back of my bicycle,
and laugh and laugh
with me all the way
through the park
to the sun-spangled bay.

--Zann Carter 04.27.09