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The Peter Pan Prize

Mary O'Keefe Brady
Briarcliff Manor, NY

Tar Beach: List

Tar Beach

Rooftop antennae poke holes in the sky;

shingles buckle in July heat,

ripple like sand under bare feet.


A rooftop brigade of sheets flap hello,

slap the horizon,

flicker and flow


to undulating waves

til I part the sea,

lay down my mat, threadbare times three,


crisscross hands beneath my head

look skyward, embrace

my magic carpet bed.

Tar Beach: Text
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