seafoam/tealblue / ad hoc

1. allie
kindly loans me
her iphone calculator
while i crunch numbergrades
thinking
there must be a more human
magic
sensible
way to do this

2. waiting
legs dangling off bench
at shuttlestop
poetry portfolio
and rae’s evaluation
in hand
the feeling
of having survived something
the feeling
of getting set free

3. a silver-tinseled record store
on washington
seafoam/tealblue walls
empty inside
minus two people
behind the counter

4. view from shuttlebus:
bank windowpainted
with liberty (as in: statue of) crowns
while people are people
comes in
over the radio

5. at any given moment
you can look out my
bedroom window
and find airplanes
lowering themselves
over balboa park

6. in an hour
i slice and saute vegetables
(purple cabbage
onions
napa cabbage
garlic
carrots)
fry tofu
cook rice noodles
and whip together
peanut sauce
with fresh lime juice and cilantro

7. lester, denise and i
at the parkside market
gather around the old fashioned check out counter
with bubbles
and strawberry lemonade
beverages for the ad hoc

8. the backyard tour
includes the chiminea
two decks
a canyon
whose stunt double
could be a lake
or river
and a plane
low
lit
and roaring
overhead

9. denise
who arrived poemless
reads the contents of her purse
including
but not limited to
a remixed
west coast
hankie code

10. taylor
goes bad girl
expounds
on ziggurats
and rarity

11. thomas
reads
from  paint samples
and a poem
with no birds in it

12. jp
shares two of his own
and one of someone else’s
one
of which
he says
is for ryan and i
a reference
to neoconfessionalism

13. lester
takes us to steam rooms
beaches
and all other locations
that include speedos
and things beyond sixpacks

14. ryan
reads
i have a great deal of violence

15. felipe
seated next to the gong
gives us an infant
disappearing
into tall grasses
and the abruptness
of violent hands

16. the danger
of beginning to name
is the danger
of leaving someone out
kyle (head in the christmas tree)
steve (black sesame seed snacks)
woman with rifle warmers as socks

16. you
tucked into my pocket
so as to not miss
a word

17. the fog
thick as steamed milk
turns us around
near balboa park
and redwood
until the houselandmark
next to the xmas light atrocity
tells me
where i am