Genie’s Pocket -
2009 Columns
December, 2009 Genie’s Pocket
The Dark Sea
A brown, two-
on the sand, separated from its mother.
Atop a Harbor Patrol truck, a man
watches for a parent otter to appear,
to respond to the cry of its baby.
A woman from Marine Rescue
carries the pup into the icy surf.
Arms high, she waits to be seen.
Twice the mother comes close.
After an hour the team leaves.
November, 2009 Genie’s Pocket
IMAGINATION
The whole of you is never visible,
half of you out of sight.
Presumably you’re all there,
but what haven’t I imagined?
October, 2009 Genie’s Pocket
CALIFORNIA LIVING
(Three trips to Pismo Beach)
A blonde man, around thirty,
laid three oil barrels
a yard apart in the sand.
Barefoot, in shorts and sunglasses,
he stood, broad-
turned, did it again, and again:
his warm-
September, 2009 Genie’s Pocket
SAN SIMEON POINT
On a hot-
I walked along the beach to a semi-
climbed through barbed wire, headed to the cliffs.
Monarchs flitted among eucalyptus and two juncos
flew in mating flurry. At the point a panorama:
kelp balls dancing with waves, distant mountains,
and endless blue where sea and sky merged.
August, 2011 Genie’s Pocket
WE ALL LIVE IN A...
yellow submarine. The sun rises
and the teapot fishes in the sky.
Art awakens my mind to play,
splash in the pond of dreams,
slip into black holes.
July, 2009 Genie’s Pocket
TRANSFORMATIONS
Behind the wheel of a car
some people remain themselves,
but in my Prius phone booth
I forgo my Clark Kent persona.
From meek and mild to assertive and bold,
I become a Don’t mess with me driver.