Monday, March 2, 2026

37 Calle Vela Blanca

July 2017, 

37 Calle Vela Blanca,

San Jose,

EspaƱa, 

street view,


A young couple


with old connections,

breaking, repaired,

frustrated, in pain,

pieced together,


wrapped in summer 

on Calle Vela Blanca,

White Candle Street,

Spanish heat 


burnt sentiment

dessicated tears

blistered hearts

and dry vacant lots


near that house, 

with its pergola draped 

in bougainvilla

inside its garden wall,

outside a small white gate,

that red 50 gallon drum

and stunted cypresses


down from 

Calle Cala Higuera,

Fig Cove Street with

its green garbage skip,

a century plant, 

where above

the final bloom


balanced on 

power lines,

and sitting atop 

a power pole

that pair of doves

gazing  quietly,

at the mystery


of a long embrace,

after

he said she said

after

his helping hand

assisted her, 

in rising from


her grief,

where, she sat

head in hands


after

he stood

outside her

comfort zone,

gesturing


as he and she

give startled looks

to the singular parade

of google’s passing,

that white, red, green,

yellow, blue, clown car,

with its black robot camera

silently recording


a passion play,


and over there,

yards away, up

on Calle Cala Higuera,

a man wearing 

his green shirt

and red shorts, offers

momentary glances, 

not caring,

what he sees


the dejected pose,

the frustrated gestures,


well staged

for Google’s camera, 

backward forward,


a final separation,

a reconciliation,


a vulnerable moment,


a most

vulnerable moment, 


on Google earth,

for an entire planet.


a virtual corner 

turned, up

from C. Notario, 

or down 

from C. Cala Higuera,


but take a last look,

July 2017 is gone,

it’s October 2018,


or 2020


that couple, gone,

those doves gone, 

a century plant gone, 

that ephemera

gone, a summer,

gone.



Wednesday, January 14, 2026

Another Friend Gone

No one ever told me

a proper way to grieve,

so I sit with all the fun

we planned for some

future never realized.


My tears seem weak

recompense for losing

actions never taken.


I can recall 

moments where

we challenged

one another,

laughed, sat silent

when friends

or family vanished

from life,

but what must I do

now, when pasts

ravage memory,

and a future

disappears?

Friday, January 9, 2026

9 January

Friday afternoon

9 January,

my cousin a Pacific Ocean,

waves a lazy wave,

like summer has arrived,

and my cousin tells me,

that distinctly flat  

horizon decorated 

with container ships

and crab boats is 

a precious sight, 

get it while you can.

Thursday, January 8, 2026

World News

Letting media 

massage me,

lubricating

current events

attempt a 

soothing touch for 

aches and pains

down deep

where human

interest keeps

compounding

on a debt

ceiling far

over my head.


Media wet 

massage fingers 

dry and bony

from overwork

poke deep

hitting trigger

spots pointing

to hypnopompic,

or hypnogogic, 

so I can’t recall

if I’m coming

from sleep or

wakefulness.

Wednesday, January 7, 2026

Where the West Lies

This piece was written more than a decade ago, and I'm not sure what I was thinking when I wrote it. Actually, I don't even recall writing it, so here it is.



Where the West lies

         artifacts and relicts

apportioned along lines

         of class and rarity

bought unseen from fortune’s 

         pocket are museumed

for mass martyrdom

         we, dying for this lie

gaily decorate suburban

         manses with miscolored

fakes we purchase to 

         prove our greatness

contains no rot.