Tropical Storm

This poem was written in response to the Rattle® Poetry Ekphrastic Challenge for September 2022 and was ultimately not selected. You can find more information here.

https://www.rattle.com/ekphrastic/

The image that this poem was specifically written about can be found here. (September 2022 – Bonnie Riedinger’s “Take Heart”)

https://i0.wp.com/www.rattle.com/ekphrasis/EC22Sep.jpg?ssl=1

Tropical Storm

Passion fruit rum and pineapple juice

Shaken like Elvis shook his hips

Lies beneath vodka and blue curacao

Sapphire and gold swirled over crystal

A treasure-laden chest

Sunken beneath cerulean waters

With a little umbrella floating on top

A tropical storm in my glass

A hurricane in my mind

The aftermath in my heart

But don’t worry, the blue will be

On the bottom soon enough

I spin the umbrella between my fingers

As I drain this concoction into my mouth

Bartender, keep them coming

My fiancé left me, you see

Right on the alter

White dress and all

This was to be

Our honeymoon

But why let good tickets go to waste

No better place

To spirit the broken heart away

Than a tropical island

So bartender, I’ll take another

Passion fruit rum and pineapple juice

Vodka and blue curacao

And over the umbrella

I spy handsome eyes

Staring at me

So I smile back

A tropical storm in my glass

And perhaps in my bed tonight

Submitted under MRB