In Florida when I was nine
We spent Christmas vacation at a fancy hotel
After that year the hotel refused to book Jews
So we couldn’t go back
But when I was nine
I walked on the beach all day
Feet bare
Head down
Hunting for treasures
Up where the sand was soft and it was hard to keep my balance
And down at the tide line
Where the ground was smooth and wet
I found hundreds of seashells
Held each one up to my face to see details
To smell the ocean
To toss into my bucket
Zigzagging around sun bathers stretched out on towels
Circling groups of playing children
And sandpipers.