By Laura Sobbott Ross
Dancing was something we hadn’t done in years,
we told one another that night, the three of us
marveling at our neon auras, fingers snapping,
cupping the cool glass walls of our cocktails, mid-spin.
Between us, eight children, seven husbands, fifteen
decades. In the air, a rhythm sparked and caught,
snippets of radiance scattered from the sphere spinning
above our heads. Didn’t we deserve this, to wring
ourselves dizzy, to whip in the raw air, to be this grateful,
this forgiven? When the bar closed, we’d drained
our candy-colored drinks, bypassed the palm trees admonishing
with wind, the porch lights of quiet pastel houses. Instead,
we took the soft track of the beach back to the rental,
until one of us suggested jumping in, and we left our clothes
in the sand, still warm with the scent of us, as we toppled in—
flapping angels into the foamy drifts, howling our pact with the dark
and panting current, craving its ferocious kiss. The last bits of us
in lace and underwire, unhooked, leafed from wet skin, then flung
across the broken sea, while our daughters waiting on the shore,
wondered at the hour and combed their siren-silky hair.
Laura Sobbott Ross has worked as a teacher and a writing coach in Lake County, Florida, where she was recently named as the inaugural poet laureate. Her poetry appears in more than 100 literary journals. In addition to several Pushcart Prize nominations, she was a finalist for the Arts&Letters Poetry Award and won the Southern Humanities Review Auburn Witness Poetry Prize. Her chapbook, A Tiny Hunger, was the winner of the Seventh Annual YellowJacket Press Chapbook Contest for Florida Poets. Her second chapbook, My Mississippi, was published by Anchor&Plume Press. Her full length book of poetry, The Graffiti of Pompeii, was published in 2018 by Adelaide Books. She won The Ledge Poetry Contest for “Skinny Dipping in the Ocean at Age 50.”
Categories: Sister Sirens
The Gloria Sirens 
What a beautiful poem, Laura.
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Thank you!
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I’m reading your powerful and wise poem again. A friend of mine turned 50 on the 17th, and I’m meeting her for coffee today. I hope you don’t mind that I’m printing this out and bringing it to her, along with “Girls Born of Water Signs.” They both shine and spark.
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Reblogged this on Lisa Lanser Rose and commented:
I say we all need such a night, and the sooner the better.
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However, this even claims also, Thanks also to Ms. L. Rose for that this i of her said responses to this i of Ms. L. S. R.’s said poems for ‘ ‘ Gloria Sirens ‘ ‘ for ‘ ‘ WordPress ‘ ‘ on it with it now here which recounts also that that’s so also with it with it with it now here STILL recounts also that in this case also, she also observed on her said site’s said Webpage’s said ‘ ‘ Blog ( stands also for SHORT for ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Weblog ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ) ‘ ‘ that in this case now also, ” ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ The writer says we ALL NEED such a night, and the sooner, the better…. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ” for herself for herself, for herself for herself too as well to boot, for ANYONE whosoever accepts also that this even claims also, Thanks also to Ms. L. Rose for that this i of her said responses to this i of Ms. L. S. R.’s said accounts for ‘ ‘ Gloria Sirens ‘ ‘ for ‘ ‘ WordPress ‘ ‘ on it with it now here which recounts also that that’s so also with it with it with it now here STILL recounts also that in this case also, she also observed on her said site’s said Webpage’s said ‘ ‘ Blog ( stands also for SHORT for ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Weblog ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ) ‘ ‘ that in this case now also, ” ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ The writer says we ALL NEED such a night, and the sooner, the better…. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ” him/herself for him/herself, for fans, for OUTSIDERS, for readers, for visitors, for others also and even for us, too….
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love it
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Love love love this poem!!!!
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This claims, Thanks also to Ms. L. Ross for that this i of her said poems for ‘ ‘ Gloria Sirens ‘ ‘ for ‘ ‘ WordPress ‘ ‘ on it with it now here STILL recounts also that in this case also, this now here cites also life also even with ” ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ SKINNY DIPPING ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ In The Ocean At Age Fifty ( 50 ) ( l ) ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ” for herself for herself, for ANYONE whosoever accepts also that this even claims also, Thanks also to Ms. L. Ross for that this i of her said accounts for ‘ ‘ Gloria Sirens ‘ ‘ for ‘ ‘ WordPress ‘ ‘ on it with it now here STILL recounts also that in this case also, this now here cites also life also even with ” ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ SKINNY DIPPING ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ In The Ocean At Age Fifty ( 50 ) ( l ) ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ” him/herself for him/herself, for fans, for OUTSIDERS, for readers, for visitors, for others also and even for us, too….
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