I Worked In My Bathing Suit

Bathing suit was my work outfit

oceans were my sustenance

breathing bounding main

taking skin-diving charters

from Miami to Bahamas.

watching drug smugglers

transferring their cargo

from ocean going trawlers

into fast speed boats

to run past customs

without being caught.

we absconded with zodiac rafts

with motors strapped on

abandoned on sea waters

no more use to smugglers

sold rafts back home in Miami.

took captivated skin divers

to dive on shipwrecks

film dolphins following the boat

partied at night

in Hemingway’s bar in Bimini.

one group of repeat charterers

were from Kennedy Space Center

engineers with tales to tell

of their work with astronauts

and space rockets.

we always were frightened

that the boat would sink

with all the engineers aboard

a tremendous loss to space science.

charterers came from all over the world

loved the Italians with cases of spaghetti

yes, they really do eat it!

making a documentary across the seas.

the French were haughty

superior attitude and dyed red hair

but the most unique charter of all

were California film makers

who waited until boat

out of sight of Miami

to remove all their clothes

going au naturel

the remainder of the charter

bodies not pretty

all shapes and sizes.

when it rained

they all ran out on deck

with bars of soap

cleansing their bodies

of encrusted salt

no inhibitions here.

met many characters

in the islands

friends to this day

living their lives

on the water.

our house in Miami

sat on the Bay

art deco built 1926

the floor was slanted

windows no screens

blown off by the wind.

we lived upstairs

with wide vistas of water

rented downstairs to tenants

docked our boats in front

kept our bathing suits on

wrote a book on our adventures.