baker beach, CA

the first time
i saw you naked
it was in public,
at the beach
sunset, the orange
meeting the blue halfway
bleeding into the space
between

you wore a sweatsuit
in the cool pre-twilight
dusk chasing sun
tore it off; tossed
the clothes onto sand

peeled away the last garments
and plowed your toes hard
into earth

lay down at the shoreline
face down

i must have loved you
before then,
i know i imagined what
i had not yet seen;

the freckled shoulders,
length of spine under skin,
legs and muscles, thigh
and knees

body resting against
the water’s pulse,
the moon’s movement
drumming in your ears.

© 2008 tahminah zaman