I was at a job interview the other day &
they asked if I wasn’t doing what I was doing what 
I would like to do & 
I told them be a mermaid &
they looked up at me like, what the—? & 

“URGENT!” Giovanni’s text said, “Call now,” and the list of catastrophic fears that a person lists went through my mind. He picked up right away: what took you so long, been trying to call for hours, ovens on super sale, you want one, tell me pronto, before someone else takes them, only two left, OK got one in my hands RIGHT NOW, store is closing RIGHT NOW. 

I remember our hotel & its smell of rattan & sand & rain
I remember seashells on shelves & mantles 
& that big piece of driftwood in the darkened sitting room
No one ever sat in there
I remember American History Class in eighth or ninth grade 
I remember the boy in front of me much better. (He sat near the front.)