A MEMENTO TO THEIR SOMETHING OR OTHER

As a memento to their 
undying something or other
she took the unripe palm nut 
and bear claw she'd filched from the 
hotel brunch and retreated to 
their room overlooking the island 
necklaced in bosomy gold and 
diamond glittered surf. This was 
the end, she knew. They'd come here to 
restore that certain sparkle, that 
certain precious something they'd 
always known was theirs, and now, 
just now, she knew for sure, the palm 
nut cool in her hand, it was when 
he asked for coffee and she spied 
his ring so thin and brassy on his 
finger, the way he poured in so much 
cream to dilute its bitterness, 
the exquisite acidity, it was that 
stupid ring he'd bought at Federal's 
when they first met, a lark back then, 
a testimony to his rugged 
immaturity, she'd called it, 
his rakish innocence, he was 
moving to California to 
make films, to reinvent  
American beauty, Sunset Boulevard 
and all of that, so in love was he 
with Norma Desmond, the idea of 
pathetic beauty, and eros, 
and now, sprawled down there in his 
cabana beside the pool, gaping 
at the golden calves of women 
half his age, his big belly now burning 
red, squinteyed and leering at 
the older women in their cover-ups, 
he might as well be floating face-
down in Norma's pool, that outrageous 
garden of Salome's, let him live 
his fantasies, his films, let him 
have his little mind-fucks or candied 
flings with platinum tinsel dolls 
from Reno or some big-bosomed 
Danish tart from Peachtree Gardens. 
She was packing. This time she meant 
to go. She would drive their rental 
to the island and disappear among 
the flesh walking the shore, her name 
now was Freedom, she could feel 
the tug of the shoreline fizzing 
at her feet, it would be water 
and wind, salt and sun, tide and sand, 
she was Norma Desmond now in 
sunglasses and stunning in her 
black swimsuit, beauty reclaimed like 
the flamingos nesting in the trees, 
ravishing, she left the bear claw 
on their bed and held the palm nut 
in her hand, warm and burnished smooth, 
something or other reclaimed, she knew,
she couldn't quite say.