Late Summer In Rhode Island

All of us natives hope for September again,
when the blueberries pop from their branches,
and the songbirds give us their last symphonies,

when we would trade it all in for one smiling face,
each one of us still in the warmth of our summer dreams—
that late time of the year when we miss each other the
most.

After ten days of storms over Rhode Island,
the red starfish litter the beach like it is the sky,
pools form in the middle of the golden dunes,
the black form of fishermen sway again down
in the salt ponds near Galilee,

and over on the Newport Bridge, the cars go sliding
forth like they will never be coming back again—shhhh!