Folly Beach Poem by Sam Mauzy

Come and let us take a slow drive across town,
Dodge confused tourists, be polite at four-way stops,
Zoom over the boated Ashley out to the beach road;
Don't fall off;

Join the weekend rush and queues of cars,
Run the retail row out to the open tidal marsh
And see an old man fishing from a bridge;
Don't fall off;

Feel like children almost there,
Ride by crab shacks, condos, and red oleander;
See a flurry of birds signal a fishboat come in;
Don't fall off:

Dead ahead, the only high-rise on the island
Has a commanding view, and there someone
On the roof of the hotel is taking pictures;
Don't fall off;

Let's park in the lot at the foot of the long pier,
Join the ocean audience, observe chaotic children
Run and squeal and dig in sand at the edge of America;
Don't fall off;

Two fleshy lotioned young women
Riding on the shoulders of hunky jocks
Toss a beach ball back and forth;
Don't fall off;

Close to the coast, engines whine and scream
As a ponderous C-17 in practice flight
Makes a low painfully slow turn;
Don't fall off;

Look, coming up the strand single-file,
Charming the spread of summer spectators,
A whole family on bicycles;
Don't fall off;

And up at The Washout, patient surfers bob on the water
Like pelicans, then jump on board, arms out as if to fly,
As they glide and slide down a good one;
Don't fall off;

Come and let us return downtown and watch
Seabreeze thunderheads tower inland as departing cargo
From the air force base roars out over the City of Churches;

Don't forget the Globemaster crew, climb the blue, become a speck,
Fall beyond our view, below the sea horizon,
Off to war, far away.