Carla Sarett

DON’T WORRY BABY

for Brian Wilson

America loses my
beautiful beach boy my
Caroline No
deuce-coupe dreams on
East Coast
frost-bitten days I hear
guitars & learn the
hurt in a boy’s eyes as he
imagines a place that’s
joyful & nothing’s quite the same after
knowing it’s never only that
locking the rest out on
mornings playing The Beach Boys in
New Jersey
on a snowy day hearing
Pet Sounds with my brother & after
quiet together in his neat
room we’re happy as
surfers U.S.A as secret
Thunderbirds we ride
under super-hot sand & Brian’s
voice sings don’t
worry baby, don’t worry baby
Xanax or any god I invent
you understand not even
Zeus makes everything turn out all right

Carla Sarett’s latest poetry chapbook, Any Excuse for a Party, is out from (Bainbridge Island Press). Her work has been nominated for the Pushcart, Best of Net, Best Microfiction and Best American Essays. Carla serves as Contributing Editor for New Verse Review and earned a PhD from University of Pennsylvania. She is currently based in San Francisco.

“Don’t Worry Baby” previously appeared in New Verse Review after Brian’s death