Amusing

Technology celebrates
connectedness, but
encourages retreat,
says Jonathan Safran Foer.

Handmade foam rubber wetsuits,
neon yellow with a blue hood
wrapped in Ocean Beach fog.
It’s always summer on the inside.

The scent of cherry tomatoes
ripe on the vine at dusk.
Or onions opaque in a skillet.
Soil and sizzle, I’m home.

Years tracking down stories
then told in twenty minutes.
Narratives making sand flow.
Density turning into viscosity.

 

That time I made my wife drive
with me into the hills to see
the harvest moon visible from our
stoop. Just a little closer now.

Rafters to cellar, doorbell to crib
Stonewashed, soil-stained
Chainsaw and soak hose
Mended pipe, pierced copper.

 

The man born this day
gave up his bed
when I lost my own.
Hush, he gestured. Rest.

Early morning and I walk
in the blue light of a home
at rest, into each chamber
of its heart. I’m beat.

Minimal lines in a drawing.
The few pen strokes
are finalists of hundreds
— or the sum of them.

Jack of all trades,
master of none.
Orbit as the planets
or anchor as their sun?