Write about place - Totally Optional Prompts

Water Baby

Two thousand miles of asphalt,
corn fields, mountains, and desert

Three nights of rolling off at random
exits to find a twenty dollar bed

Four days of fast food, Ritz crackers,
Diet cokes and rest stops

From the center of the country to the west,
drawn by surfer music, and the promise

of never-ending sunshine and water views,
my Vega crawls up the hill on Artesia,

to the top, where my breath becomes trapped
in my chest as I see it for the first time,

the Pacific ocean, beaches stretching left
and right, I coast down the hill to pastel beach

bungalows, the strand, bikini’d roller-bladers,
kicking off shoes, I drag my toes through sugar

sand, never take my eyes off the water,
wade right in