Slow Leak

The damp gray compression of
sunlight reaching down to rap its
knuckles against the waves

for what one has lived
is what otherwise
deliberate gesture
taps the heart
back of an abandoned Shell Station
                  (signed, Louie Louie)

as we deny the time spent
to mend the phrasing so
being here an instant
leaving no trace?

“I’ve got a
carbon footprint the
size of Oregon”

as near as I guess possible

beach blanket blackout
Santa Cruz, California