Life Cycle of a New York Crustacean

Summer of swollen heat
Summer of you and me and the sea
Riis Beach in the early evening 
kind of summer

Pissing in the water all of us together
In communion like
Baptism

Summer I lost my sunglasses in the water 
Summer I broke my own heart and let it dry out
Right there on the sand.
Summer I quit my job after just a week 
and felt like a fool.

Someone is turning twenty-seven—
Tonight is Christmas in July.

Summer of Crawfish boil
Where I found my heart
in the aluminum dish
Next to the kielbasa and a three-pronged
Crab leg.