Paul Dickey

UNATTRACTIVE GIRL IN BIKINI,
BY THE WATER’S EDGE

The shadows try hard not to look lonely.
Under the clear surface of the pool,
they bend in images of sky. Even softball
lights are only in it for the beauty.
She splashes her feet at poolside,
disturbs the stars. No parent can tell her
grace does not call attention to itself.
She thinks the scene is all about her,
the way she wraps in the towel, the way
she opens it. Unknown to her, stars dance
together in the water if I squint enough,
where even bodies reflect beauty, where
as best as I can tell, she loses all her
faults in cuts and angles of the water.

—from Rattle #21, Summer 2004