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.