‘Jax Beach 1950s’ by Lucy Giardino Cortese

Beauties sashay across the sand
Norma Jean look-a-likes hand in hand
Times before bikinis and thongs
Transistor radios blaring songs

Sunny shoreline lush and palmy
Simpler times when thoughts were balmy
Marching bands roar oom-pa-pas
Splashing kids chased by their Mas

Black sedans line mile-wide beach
Scores float by the high tide’s reach
Shrimp boats pass to port’s return
Baby oil, iodine ensure a burn

Fishermen cast their nets and cares
Amusement rides charge nickel fares
Sand dunes sheltered by sea oats lace
My beach, my solace, my fav’rite place

Ruins as if from Matthew and Dora
Salty images float in an aura
Memories crushed as shells on the shore
Childhood fragments alive nevermore

Lucy Giardiano Cortese is a freelance writer and owner of Lucy’s Lines ‘N Lyrics in Jacksonville, Florida. Her articles are published in Jacksonville Business Journal, AARP, Guideposts, Folio Weekly, Canticle,  Grandparents Day, GRAND, Family Tree and St. Augustine Catholic magazines. Now retired, Lucy has been a teacher, district administrator, school principal and executive director in a career spanning four decades. A lifelong educator, community activist, mother and grandmother, Lucy lives her personal mission statement, “Each One, Teach One.”