IN THE FLORIDA NIGHT
Painting by Susan Solomon and words by Nate Thomas
Palm tree fronds caress the sky like fingers or shadows of fingers while just beyond their reach a band plays in the reception hall of a beachfront hotel lit as though to drive all sorrows from the night, happiness followed by sadness, all in a language I don’t understand as I sleep on the beach and wait for the tide to roll in, to roll me up and roll me under. In the morning, three large spider bites adorn my arm like eggs awaiting their hatch. And the palm fronds green against the workaday blues. Part memory, part madness.
Susan Solomon is a freelance painter living in the Midwest. She also doubles as the cartoonist/editor of Sleet Magazine, an online literary journal.
Nate Thomas is the author of All Fishes Weep, a poetry chapbook written in collaboration with artist Susan Solomon. He lives in Saint Paul, MN, where he keeps close to the ocean, through remembrance, poetry, and dreams.
© 2015