Best Cruise Line Ports of Call

The finer things in life await you.

Promises of luxury and discovery
are served on centerfolds in bright, glossy 
paperback cruise catalogs on my dad’s coffee table. 

Laying a cheek in my palm, I frown
at a travelogue opened. A man worth more than me
smiles back. We cast our glances, side-
long squinting, 
evaluating the other. 

I’m shorts and polo. Friday’s just down the hall.

He’s shorts and hibiscus flower shirt. You too could lounge
in two weeks of Saturday evenings.
He’s posed on an island with history. You too could lounge

in a colony awash in poverty,
stolen land and people all your own.
Little slice of paradise,
you tell the world who’s most deserving of this bounty:
“If you’re like me, you love adventure…”

Sacred mountains, rich culture and land,
how much richer they would be
free of men such as these.
  

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