Undiscovered Poem by John Keats: "La Belle Plage Sans Jetski"

WORDPLAY post #74

A POETIC SAGA:  previously unpublished.
POETIC PRECEDENT: The current poem seems to be a sequel to John Keats' "La Belle Dame sans Merci", 1819.   

La Belle Dame sans Merci
fantasy rendering, Kirikam:
after Sir John Dicksee

EDITORIAL REVISION: Giorgio Coniglio updated the formatting for this work, which was discovered  scribbled on a napkin in 2001.
SONGLINK: The original Keats' poem has been set to music in a pastiche found on our sister blog "Giorgio's Ukable Parodies"




LA BELLE PLAGE SANS JETSKI

(A Saga of Escape to Sarasota Bay from the Lake Erie Shoreline)

O what can ail thee, pale Canuck,
   Gulf-coast and condo visiting,
Where the seagrass thrives along the Bay,
   And Snowbirds sing ? 

O what can ail thee, pale Canuck,
  Jet-charter'd and still shov'ling sore ?
The pompano is on the grill, fresh-
  -Squozen juice U-pour.

I watched an ibis in the reeds,
  And anguish'd "Need I ne'er go North?'
When rang a lady-elf with her
  Clipboard and Porsche.

She drove me in her pager'd steed,
  Past time-shar'd mangroves, egrets soar;
And there I fill'd her travel-mug
  With Starbucks' pour.

We tour'd beachfront, boat-access too,
  Benz'd realtors, well-bronz'd were they all,
They chirp'd, 'La Belle Plage sans Jetski -
  Close to the Mall.' 

She drove me to Siesta Key.
  En route I daydream'd, drawbridge high'd,
November's permanent escape
  From the froze Lake-side.

And that is why few winter there,
  Valve-closed or Erie-watering,
Though the sludge is filtered from the Lake
  And no bugs sting.