Matthew Caretti

Aloha State of Mind

air b&b
two beach shacks
just close enough

The wahine flashes a shaka when happy hour ends, teetotaling the offers of another round. She paddles out instead. Sits under a saltwater moon. Augurs tomorrow’s swell. Turns in early. I hear her stir in the blue hour. Peer through the screened window as she waxes her longboard, wavy motions mimicking the sea. Then well before the wind she greets the waves and the few other surfers. Uneven ellipses, they line up beyond the break. She claims hers from the first set. A heavy. Carving a love I know I cannot.

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Note: “Aloha” derives from the Maori “aroha,” meaning love or affection.

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About the Author

Matthew Caretti began publishing his poems in 2009, though his fascination with Eastern short-form genres began much earlier. In 2017, he garnered the Snapshot Press eChapbook Award for Harvesting Stones. In 2022 published his first collection in print, Africa, Buddha, with Red Moon Press. He lives and teaches high school English in Pago Pago, American Samoa.