Our hotel is near the Ocean Grove
Jesus music tent and today
is Jesus Day Father’s Day Juneteenth.
Black gospel singers last night
and today Jesus is a Rock.
In this town made beautiful again
like Asbury Park too by gay men
who saw how beautiful it could be.
Dinner last night
at a friends house here with her
rabbi daughter and daughter in law
Filipino sister in law everyone seems
to be right here it’s one of those places
where strangers say hello. In our hotel
I asked another guest named Jane
if she’d ever written a poem. Jane, born
Catholic, is Evangelical now. She’s
an eager talker. I wrote a poem in my 20s
about heartbreak she said, and then
she recited her long love poem,
unexpected and moving. I wish you could
hear it too.
Esther I love this poem. So moving!
We spend time in Ocean Grove in the summer. It’s the most interesting beach town I’ve ever visited. That church! The tents! The honky tonk boardwalk right next to the dry town - none of it makes sense and yet it all does. Enjoy!