1 mighty ocean
3 million grains of sand
11 towels dotting the shoreline
30 feet from the lifeguard stand
2 lifeguards, gabbing
1 expectant mother, resting
2 prayers said for husband at
1 interview that morning
1 brand new cell phone
15 times checked
0 calls or messages
from 1 husband, delayed
1 engine roaring
8 beeps while backing up
2 tires crunching
2 victims, surviving
1 mighty ocean
3 million grains of sand
11 witnesses, yelling
1 ambulance, wailing
all prayers, answered.
My lifeguard stand.
Lupita Eyde-Tucker is a bilingual poet and translator raised in New Jersey and Guayaquil, Ecuador. She has studied poetry at Bread Loaf, is a Fellow at The Watering Hole, and the winner of the 2019 Betty Gabehart Prize for Poetry. She was selected as an AWP Writer to Writer Mentee by poet Maggie Smith. In 2017 she was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.