'What Remains', by Leslie Dianne
At dusk everyone’s gone
from the beach
they took their chatter
and their umbrellas that
boxed with the sun
they took their sunscreen
and their tans and their
slow flirtatious walks
they took their dogs
and their opinions
of things of no importance
they took their music and the
Feeling that they’d be
seventeen forever
the teenagers took
their hopes to luna park
the adults took their
fragile marriages for a
walk in the piazza
the toddlers hid a bit
of sand in their shoes
and in their hair
to remind them of
the first day
they saw the waves
wash up on the shore
the sun is taking
its fading glow to
the welcoming horizon and
I take myself to the
Rise of the crest
and dive into the froth
everybody’s gone
from the beach and
all that remains is
me, my heartbeat and
the ocean’s slow
even breath
Leslie Dianne is a playwright, poet, novelist, screenwriter and performer whose work has been acclaimed internationally at the Harrogate Fringe Festival in Great Britain, The International Arts Festival in Tuscany, Italy, The Teatro Lirico in Milan, Italy and at La Mama, ETC in NYC. Her stage plays have been produced in NYC at The American Theater of Actors, The Raw Space, The Puerto Rican Traveling Theater and The Lamb's Theater, and at Theater Festivals in Texas and Indiana. She holds a BA in French Literature from CUNY and her poetry appears in The Wild Word, Sparks of Calliope, The Elevation Review, Quaranzine, The Dillydoun Review, Line Rider Press, Flashes and elsewhere. Her writing was recently nominated for a Pushcart Prize and Best of The Net.
Photography by Frederico Abis