When I remember to look for
the silver linings on dark days
I feel perspective shift inside me
begrudgingly at first, like a car engine
tired from road after road after road
But soon the heaviness lifts a little,
the scenery becomes a cinematic
and even the soundtrack improves
This is what the end of the world looks like
apparently
except the etymology of apocalypse is “unveiling”
and it’s not the last cycle in the Mayan calendar
and pretty soon science will merge with spirit through quantum physics
and our collective insanity will somehow simply melt away
as we realize our interconnectedness
and embrace new solutions to sweep away old problems
and embark upon a Roddenberry-esque era of peace and cooperation
that, or total annihilation in a mass of hellfire.
In which case I won’t have to pay back my student loans.
So there’s that.
When they say the painted ladies of San Francisco
they’re referring to the colorful townhouses
with their voluptuous Victorian visages
But when I hear it I think of the eucalyptus
in elegant ranks and long lean lines
aging gracefully, blushing velvets
sips of nostalgia tea
steeped long in memory
with a cup of pea soup dreams
foggy foodstuffs comforting
potato sack slides and piggyback rides
licking cake spoons and bright red balloons
finding cloud shapes
making forts of the drapes
sprinklers turned to water parks
getting grass stains until dark
night lights, food fights, feeding ducks
graham crackers and ice cream trucks
somewhere there along the way
I somehow forgot how to play
Ink drawing on paper
once when driving farmland roads
skirted with indigo trees
a flock of tiny birds became
a heart upon the breeze
and the sweet earth sighed
its dream of compassion
through dry grass and buzzing bees
I smiled to know the universe shows
its love in little moments for me
Logistical geometries
skitter below at top speeds
and I wonder if these orange-vested masterminds
played Tetris and Jenga all the time
and if they ever dreamed
one day they’d be giant pieces
on a snakes and ladders board
cold strange steels
mystery upholsteries
offgassing resins
bombard and carry me
spaces full of empty
chunks of faux stability
surfaces in passing
so vast and temporary
watching ice refuse
to melt in the desert
sun-baked stucco
shivers and sighs
at sunrise in Santa Fe
