Plastic Flamingo

If you listen close to Hawaiian slack-key guitar
you can hear the soft whisper of what could be
a mudslide out at the edge of your neural system
but is more likely just a wrecked hula girl
scooping out your brains with a table spoon

puts the fear in your black low-top sneaks
* Chuck Taylor All Stars *

              Charles Olson
              Charles Atlas
              Charles Bukowski
              Charlie “Yardbird” Parker
              Charlie Chaplin
              Charley Varrick
              Charles Baudelaire
              Bob Dylan

I thought I’d get me a tattoo of fog
the way it looks riding in across the water
& onto the beach
the last day of summer

              Adios, farewell, goodbye Rosalita
e.g.        See you later, Henry Miller
              Aloha, Tijuana

I said I’m just having a little fun, mother…

& I kept the harmonica on ice