Genie’s Pocket -
2011 and 2010 Columns
December, 2011 Genie’s Pocket
The Bulldog and Collie
My uncle gave me a dime store, ceramic bulldog,
brown and ugly. The size of a baseball, I wanted
to pitch it when my sister opened her white collie.
My squat bulldog, lopsided face, tooth showing,
and eyes shut, looked like a guy in a bar room brawl,
a boxer yelling, Hit me again, or a squished mud pie.
November, 2011 Genie’s Pocket
I like the way the wind pushes against me,
lets me know I'm going somewhere—
I wish I were wild and hopping a freighter—
so many ways to live a life in this world.
October, 2011 Genie’s Pocket
Pacific Gas and Electric Trail,
Diablo Canyon, California
When PG&E opened an ocean trail
near the Diablo nuclear plant,
goats and sheep dotted the hillside
with white Akbash dogs on duty.
September, 2011 Genie’s Pocket
Stanley Park, Vancouver
Renegade raccoons approach me
on the Lost Lagoon trail.
When I fail to offer food,
they disappear into the brush,
and suddenly I want to follow,
August, 2011 Genie’s Pocket
The Pause
After breakfast I pause,
and don't hurry to do dishes,
gulp my vitamins,
and rush to work.
I pause…
see four yellow roses
from bud to full bloom,
July, 2011 Genie’s Pocket
What's It Like To Be Old?
Don't get me started? Why do you ask?
Am I defensive? Yes. Of course I want
to slide back, get a re-
beautiful body I failed to appreciate.
June, 2011 Genie’s Pocket
Community Adventure
Nestled in the nook of a cedar tree
a Great Horned Owl and her owlets
spy me spying them—
the parent alert and wary,
the babies curious and cute,
and suddenly I’m
Jane Goodall in Gombe National Park.
May, 2011 Genie’s Pocket
Venice
Wanting to be somebody,
somebody who sips the
Piazza San Marco from the Caffè Florian
in the company of Byron and Balzac,
I jostle with people and pigeons,
then leave, feeling like a peasant.
April, 2011 Genie’s Pocket
A Champs-
On a torrid day, traffic and tourists sweat
and we trudge toward Café Ladureé
to taste famed macaroons. Like icebergs,
the fashionable French glide by us,
owning the space we rent today.
March, 2011 Genie’s Pocket
Catching a Wave
I wish I'd hurled myself into life
like the teen tossing his board
off the pier and then leaping—
his back-
before he slips into the sea.
February, 2011 Genie’s Pocket
1950 Televised Debutante Ball
In my pink pajamas,
I imagine I am the princess
I see on television,
gliding down the aisle,
bowing before the court.
I step across a stained rug,
drop to one knee,
and lower my head,
ignoring the dog
who licks my face. . . .
January, 2011 Genie’s Pocket
As teen-
we cheer our Pirates
until skull and crossbones fly.
Fifty years flash by.
Now we are the grown-
we once laughed at . . .
December, 2010 Genie’s Pocket
Tattoo Parlor Talk
Once I had twenty-
I got over it and let them close.
I’ve no idea why people get pierced.
November, 2010 Genie’s Pocket
Constraints
Two Dalmatians dart at me,
racing across a lawn.
Standing still on the sidewalk
I await their attack.
Within leaping distance
they halt, barking their desire.
I notice their battery collars—
an invisible fence contains them.
October, 2010 Genie’s Pocket
Glazed Over
Doing as I’m told wins out
over my fear of fire.
I put on protective mitts,
pick up iron tongs and
practice lifting pots so I can
remove some from the kiln.
September, 2010 Genie’s Pocket
Mary's Gold (Flowers once offered as coins to the Virgin)
Driving down the highway
an orange line on the horizon
becomes a field of marigolds,
rows and rows of blooms
planted to parent blossoms
around the world.
And now in June they create
a California gold rush.
August, 2010 Genie’s Pocket
A Journey
At first, all feels foreign—
pushing a keypad to enter,
fluorescent lights that buzz,
a recorded elevator voice,
our third floor ocean view,
magpies and two-
euros and commuter trains,
hunting and gathering
at a Eurospar and Select store.
July, 2010 Genie’s Pocket
4th OF JULY, CAYUCOS STYLE
"When, in the course of human events . . . "
we come together in community,
celebrate independence in camaraderie,
add sand sculpture, beach play, balloons,
June, 2010 Genie’s Pocket
Land of Milk and Honey
In your country I want to learn,
learn to say no to my man
who pats my arm, says I’m ready—
plays macho, struts, all puffed,
then leaves me the problems.
May, 2010 Genie’s Pocket
Soul Mate
He sat at the wheel of a parked truck
charming me, calling me close.
He looked me over, took me in-
while he whiffed I stroked
his bloodhound ears.
April, 2010 Genie’s Pocket
Ardade Night
Some parental pundit plays pinball
in my brain at night, shooting balls
into memory pockets looking for a hit.
March 2010 Genie’s Pocket
Daring Danger
A crowd watches
eighteen-
on the jetty behind Morro Rock.
We share screams and squeals
when ocean swells explode,
invoking desire and dread.
February, 2010 Genie’s Pocket
Treasure Seekers
Seeing a man who scans the beach
for treasures with a metal detector,
I want to say, "Go get a life."
But uh oh! Look at me.
I just sought early-
at a garage sale.
Are we all babies who crawl,
drop what's in hand for that
shiny object across the room?
January, 2010 Genie’s Pocket
At Seventy
A trajectory of decades crossed like a comet,
years falling like shuffled cards,
now you see them, now you don’t.r
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