When I spent a semester in Australia I published two poems in an anthology titled, Outside The Flags.

“No Worries” is about the extreme change in weather from Oneonta, NY ( where it was winter) to Wollongong, New South Wales (where it was summer).  In Australia, I could not get over how near and large the sun was. Good thing I had my hat.

---

No Worries

Here winter lingers

in the stagnant woods

where trees hang

with long cracking branches

bare and still

where slush seeps through my boots

and freezes my toes.

Here winter lingers

but I remember the milky green water

of Bondi Beach where the sun

pressed against my back

as I lay on the warm sand.

Here winter lingers,

but in Sydney, summer cockatoos

with lemon yellow feathers

danced outside my window.

There were no ice storms or numb limbs.

There were no worries,

just the sun, the wine, and poetry.

---

This next poem is about a semester I spent in Nice, France.

Nice, France

Mint and pale yellow shops along the sea

are closed from noon to three.

The damp, narrow streets

are lined with thick grey stones.

Clean white sheets hang out to dry

over tall, ancient green balcony gates.

The warm smell of baking bread

teases my sense.

I inhale long and deep.

A lazy day passes like a long walk

through soft pink poppy fields.

Your candy apple lips

press hard against my mouth.

The sun throws open her arms

and translucent rays of light

sneak between fat opal clouds.

We stretch like limber cats

on an electric blue blanket

and feast on violet grapes.

Dancing under a midnight sky

we twist weightlessly

with strong bare backs

and shout above the breaking waves

that crash and pull against our feet

swallowing our footprints.