Waterfront Park

I wrote this a long time ago, but it fits the assignment this week for my Poetry class so I'm turning it in. Why not share?

The swings are always full at Waterfront Park.

People pile on all together, to swing by the view

of Charleston’s harbor and the Ravenel Bridge.

Many people have cameras hanging on their necks,

eagerly awaiting the next dolphin to surface

or to snap the next famous photo of the Yorktown.

Some people ignore the view all together

and frolic like children in the Pineapple fountain

or in the water spouts that I think look like a compass.

Other people find themselves busy playing¹

a game of soccer or Frisbee in the greenway,

their dogs running alongside them, panting.

Those apartments that create a wall behind the park,

they are very expensive, and the people who live there

probably don’t enjoy the view that they pay for

as much as they used to when they first moved in.

Such a shame and waste of thousands.

There’s a boardwalk at the other end of the park.

Many people don’t even know its there.

It juts out into the Cooper River, wood on wood.

I have some good memories there that I can’t recreate.

By God, I wish I could.

By God, I wish people understood.