35 (early 1990's)

The fat
edged ever so slightly over the top of the bathing suit
The bathing suit was too small, too tight, too little
Desperation poking through lycra, like a finger through a
Half-deflated balloon
The sunglasses, fashionable just two summers back
Like a scene from an old sci-fi movie, trying to hint at the
future
Only showing us the past

My suit looks like many of the others sprawled here
My stomach slides down into that suit effortlessly
The suit makes my body form a line
No desperation, no lack of helium here
Sunglasses acceptable, reflecting, refracting, this summer
now
A movie released just yesterday, set in the present
Hinting at the future
Defying the demise
Denying the demise

I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each
I still believe that they will sing to me
I am lingering in the chambers of the sea
Looking at an older young man on the beach