Boogie Board Dick Rash
we rode the waves
at Bolsa Chica
and scratched at each
irritated scrotum on up
to our mushroom tips for
an oceanic salt water
marinated case of
boogie board dick rash,
and sand crept up our
asses while we ate
overpriced boardwalk
hot dogs and dreamed
of going home.
Uh Oh, Gotta Go
read the poolside sign at my grandparents’ house,
a dated 1960s era cartoon kid with an ashamed
expression on his face and the request:
–please, not in the pool.
I took a big shit in that pool once, and the kid
on that sign felt better about himself for a change,
and the sign disappeared with the years.
Kevin Ridgeway lives and writes in Long Beach, CA. A Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee, recent work of his has appeared or is forthcoming in Slipstream, Chiron Review, Nerve Cowboy, Plainsongs, The Cape Rock, KYSO Flash, San Pedro River Review, Lummox, Misfit Magazine, Suisun Valley Review and Cultural Weekly, among others. He is the author of six chapbooks of poetry. His latest book is A Ludicrous Split (alongside poems by Gabriel Ricard, Alien Buddha Press, 2018).