Second-Hand Smokescreen

There is that difference
the angle of the coastline
& the way the shadows can be so
necessary to divulge
something you didn’t say
just as Santa Barbara & its
leopard skin apostles
request the casual sacrifice
Guatemala needs a pint of blood
once, finally, & for all time
this time anywhere west of Hermosa Beach
California where we don’t stop
anymore but if we did you’d get that
neon freeze-out you love so much
& I’d fade into the pacific-colored
haze that the sky here wears so well