A nice mention on Facebook by Claudia Long has led to some searching for this poem. Here it is, easy to find. It is from the collection LOVE AND DEATH. (With Renee Gregorio and Joan Logghe, Tres Chicas, 2011)
There is a beach
sea pale green to navy to aqua
pink or pale beige sand
there you are
setting two plastic beach chairs
in the waves
there you are
carrying our daughter
on your shoulders
now you are gone
there is a beach
there are two figures
in the waves
they might be us
or in a snapshot from the fifties
someone’s mother and father
now you are gone
it is 8 o’clock
I am reading a book
I am on page 14
it is 8:15
I am on page 36
I miss page 14
where the heroine
peeled an orange
in the dayroom
although page 36
is also pleasant
it has a train
and a sense of regret
the hands
of the clock move
and my hands
turn the pages
of the book
until the heroine
walks along the beach
the sea pale green to navy to aqua
the shore pebbly
you’re gone
Painting by David Nakabayashi,