Friday, August 25, 2023

AQUAMARINE

by Jacqueline Coleman-Fried



Smoke billows as wildfires destroy a large part of the historic town of Lahaina.


Associate with me—

an aquamarine ring gifted to me

on my seventh birthday. Years later,

a family trip to an island few could

name. Water off the island the same

color as my ring. Pelicans dive-bombing 

for fish in the bay. On the path to dinner, 

no electric light—stars flung on black.

Now tout le monde, and hurricanes like nuclear 

bombs, know this island and every 

paradise you ever loved. I want to resize 

my ring and slip it on my finger, but

it will change nothing.



Jacqueline Coleman-Fried is a poet living in Tuckahoe, NY. Her work has appeared in The Orchards Poetry JournalpacificREVIEWTopical PoetryQuartet Journal, and soon, Consequence and HerWords magazine.