NaPoWriMo #4 - The Exhibitionist

The Exhibitionist

 

Here I am in my kaki waders
and No. 30 sunblock,
standing in a white  bathtub
with rolled edges and claw feet,

a white dingy beached
on a choppy cove of lawn.
Inside it floats an island of fat leaves

sheltering coy fish in the noon sun.

Here I am with my beach hat
and waving my scrub brush,
or perhaps a little square net
for fish or butterflies who pause
so  slowly folding and
unfolding their wings
and the coy fish slowly opening
then closing their mouths
and the sunlight slowly
moving among the tree shadows.
And those bashful neighbors
shutting out the thought
of my afternoon bath,
discreetly lowering binoculars
and closing their living room blinds...

--  Mar Walker

The prompt was to write something inside-out. The garden bathtub and fish belong to a friend in Hamden. No actual bathing took place.