Sitting in warm rock-filled sand
this desolate beach,
your favorite spot.

Boats and seagull songs,
my only disturbances.
Summer’s final sun rays mix
with Montauk’s breezes.
Just in time, paints a boat’s side
and I feel to arrived just in time.

Two sailboats in the distance,
I place my questions on their waves.
Why did you leave six months ago?
And how do I live on?

A drive through Southampton traffic
to this two hour destination.
Collecting rocks like flowers
to leave by your memorial,
to landmark an admired soul
I love now, only in memory.

Margarette Wahl is a Special Ed Teacher Aide for twenty-one years and a member of Bards Initiative, PPA, and an advisor on the NCPLS. She drove to Montauk in late August 2022 to write a poem in memory of her classmate & crush Francis Maiorino 1973-2002.