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Jewel of the Day
by Jessica Titlebaum

I am coming home soon, I think
as I lay topless on a Vietnamese beach
on a blue lawn chair near a woman
cooking lobster on a grill she carries over her shoulder
there are mountains in the distance and even farther than that
somewhere behind the mist and green and crystal water
I smoked a Marlboro Red on the deck of a boat called
cruising through a dragon’s tail of rock formations
on the northeast island coast covered by bamboo trees
the Hanoi sunset over the dirt road
while I held onto the back of a motorbike
and wiped the tears off my cheek that slid across my face
sideways, reminded me of where I was.