The most graceful of misunderstandings
I could not keep close at hand
She paused a moment
At the door as she adjusted her scarf against
The winds & sprays & in the moonlight
She rowed back across the inlet to the shore
I sat alone above my pale vodka
Watching its smoky trails of peppercorns
Rising toward my lips
& while I flicked the radio dial
Trying to pick up the Cuban station or even
The static of “The Reggae Rooster” from Jamaica
I watched the waves foam above the coral & recede
Then foam breathlessly again & again
As a school of yellowtail
Rose together to the surface & then suddenly dove
Touched I knew by the long silver glove
Of the barracuda she loved to watch each afternoon
As she let the boat drift in its endlessly
Widening & broken arc