Sixty-Eight Today

A private holiday

Photo by the author, Mark Tulin

I spend my birthday
by the beach
with the crackling of the surf
and a crow
perched on an olive branch

I celebrate this day in repose
on my favorite bench
with a glass of salty air
to get me drunk

I am only a spectator today,
with nothing to prove—
watching the Parasailor coast downwind,
a young woman on a short board
hanging ten

I stare into the ageless ocean,
“Sixty-eight,” I say
I never thought
I’d live this long,
much happier than I ever expected

Here in sunny California,
with the gulls and the soaring pelicans
A private holiday,
commemorating my beginning
inside of a picture postcard.

© 2021 Mark Tulin

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