Backroads Like Pinwheels

City in sweet sunshine,
City by the sea,
City written in seashells
coaxed by lavish nights and, after,
ice cream stands melting into
pristine rainbow-smiles of other
beachsters.
I have been covered with postcards
all day,
measuring liquid fantasies,
the ocean's brine on my tongue--when
I go.
The intentional bliss I have for
that place has me meeting up with
a rare destiny. I have been around.
My fate sealed.
My money licks my pocket and
gets gritty with the high price
of gas but the low price of a hotdog
at North Jetty Camp.
It is a paradise that lies where
the rocks are, and beyond, beyond
the sea.

A little drunk at the mere mention
of his name,
I know that he loves me in a bathing
suit just the same,
I recall his red and white beach
chair setting close to the ground,
relishing moments of silence
as he feeds the pigeons and sings
through a dust storm of radio music.

What might the nation think tonight?
Is the seaside filled with escapes
for us all?

Sandcastles
left there to look beautiful for
late day fishermen?

***

City over yonder,
the farmhouses have made you
handsome for years.
The cows appear as if they know
they are healthy for our own best interest,
chewing, grazing, thinking they will
be milked soon.
Somehow, he has painted the color
of his flesh like the old red barn
in spirit.
It is nostalgic redwood and as easy
to spot as cherry pie.
The mental picture of the chair
his Dad's old homestead had has
me levitating on a photograph
like a woman finding recipes for
the common flu.
He has been nursing the thought
that farmers are the heart of the
nation, and says so.
The fields of corn wave graciously
in the breeze.

City over yonder,
close to green fields and miracles,
where the carnival comes to the
church parking lot like paved summer
glory, is a gentleman farmer's notes
on life.
Meanwhile, my man has pizza
on his trousers and tractors on his mind.
He has just sold one for a snow blower.

In the summer, it's all about the
country music and fireflies.
In winter, a long road up the lonesome
path.