proposal

by Bart Edelman

There’s a voice in the ocean,

Calling out to you,

And you can faintly hear it.

It’s intended just for you—

Of this you’re quite certain.

You visit the shore each day,

Waiting on the water’s edge,

Watching the waves roll back and forth,

Straining for the proposal—

Buoyed by its presence.

Friends begin to worry,

Wonder where you reside

In this silent life you lead.

But you have a secret,

And intend to keep it,

Until the current sets you free,

Answers any remaining question,

Before you marry the sea.

Bart Edelman’s poetry collections include Crossing the Hackensack, Under Damaris’ Dress, The Alphabet of Love, The Gentle Man, The Last Mojito, The Geographer’s Wife, Whistling to Trick the Wind, and This Body Is Never at Rest: New and Selected Poems 1993 – 2023, forthcoming from Meadowlark Press.  He has taught at Glendale College, where he edited Eclipse, a literary journal, and, most recently, in the MFA program at Antioch University, Los Angeles.  His work has been widely anthologized in textbooks published by City Lights Books, Etruscan Press, Fountainhead Press, Harcourt Brace, Longman, McGraw-Hill, Prentice Hall, Simon & Schuster, Thomson/Heinle, the University of Iowa Press, Wadsworth, and others. He lives in Pasadena, California.