The month’s poems reflect various themes and emotions. In “Scavenger Hunt,” the poet searches the Upper West Side for stickers of murdered individuals to honor and remember their lives. “Capri Beach Club” nostalgically recalls a summer day at a beach club. “Dream on and Look Closer” reflects on the ideal of a supportive, judgment-free relationship. Finally, “Mahalo nui” celebrates the natural beauty and cultural richness of Hawaii.

Scavenger Hunt                                                     

Eden and Almog,
I am looking for you.
I comb the Upper West Side
Searching for you to complete the set.
You are now forever a set.

I see fresh black and white stickers of
Alex, Murdered
Carmel, Murdered
Ori, Murdered
Hersh, Murdered.
I am on a Pokémon hunt,
but I am not.

I search, find and sna
your fading images
to post online,
to honor and remember
your newly slaughtered
young, peace-loving,
bright dancing flames,
violently extinguished
all too soon.

Eden, there you are
stuck to a traffic light,
Murdered too.
Almog, where will I find you?

~Nicole Freezer Rubens, author “The Long Pause and the Short Breath”

CAPRI BEACH CLUB

A sun reflector:
When I returned from the snack bar,
licking the sides
of a frozen ice cream sandwich,
Mrs. Levy was playing canasta with a vengeance.

She sat like Buddha,
across from my mother,
in a chair that was wedged in
the smooth sand pit that separated the cabana aisles.

All the ladies around that table
resembled identical quadruplets …
hair packed in jumbo rollers to
protect from a hot summer humidity and “frizz.”

Periodically, manicured hands
dipped into a plastic bowl
filled with perfectly round melon balls.

I polished off my treat.
A swimming tube hung around my waist
like an extra appendage and
a blue bathing cap
(with a pink and yellow flower)
dressed my head.

I was charismatic!

“Don’t go into the water yet. Wait an hour,”
warned my mother.

My sister abruptly stopped
the hula hoop she had effortlessly
been swinging around her gyrating hips.

“I’m having an appendicitis attack,”
she screamed and headed for the middle pool.

I sauntered back to
our cabana …
and I sat down on one of
the two chaise longues …
and I stared at the golden teenager
resting on the other.

Garfunkel (Arthur, then) hummed as he turned tawny.
I think now
the moment was a prophecy –
the summer of 1957 never sleeps.

~ Marjorie J. Levine, author “Road Trips,” and “Becoming Until”

Dream on and Look Closer

I am anxiously awaiting the man of my dreams,
The traffic is terrible, as usual it seems,
It isn’t the fact that he’s brilliant and kind,
He’s the only man I think I can find,
With heart, and patience, no judgements at all,
That has found its way to my total recall,
Of those innocent measures of happiness I thought,
That my mother always said was caught,
In a mate that would be there for me,
Well, I am going to wait and see,
I’ve only met him once!

~ Carol Ostrow, author of “Poems from My Pandemic Pen, ” and “Poetry in Motion with Much Emotion”

Mahalo nui