Rebecca Suzan Watts

A recently retired public librarian, Rebecca Suzan Watts reads widely on environmental issues, has taken a class on invasive species, done trash pick-up at local reservoirs, and plans to become a Certified Master Naturalist next year. She enjoys photography and has been a volunteer on the screening committee for short films for the Atlanta Film Festival. She has had poems published in Yemassee, Firewords Quarterly, and most recently in Blue Lake Review.

Heat Stroke

Rebecca Suzan Watts

Issue 57, Summer 2019

Unaware of any Viking ancestry,

a well-oiled tourist lies face up,

his belly bulging toward the sky.

Staring into the bright red blindness

of his closed lids, he listens

to someone else’s radio

and senses the seabirds near him.

Down the way, sociopathic surfers

storm the beach to pillage the concession.

They leave only small change

where once foot-long hotdogs rested.

As they cut a swath through condiments,

they jeer at the rent-a-cop cruising the beach

and harass each other about sharks,

wipeouts, and lost waves.

The tourist rises on one elbow

and squints into the horizon.

Beyond the diving pelicans and the surfers

straddling boards,

he sees the glimmer of a Viking ghost ship.

Fear grips his throat,

he feverishly searches for his hat

and sunglasses half buried in the sand.