20 Fathoms Down

My ancestors used to eat their cheerios
out of a bowl carved from a human skull

that’s what made surfing The Cage so tasty
in the early 70s
                              in Venice

              The all night girls
              out on the boardwalk
                                                I figured they were the
                              daughters of memory
& of course I had to take up with the one that
              had eyes like a page torn from a
                                                                        stolen book

She translated my tattoos
& stuck her tongue in my ear

              We spent that summer on the PCH
                                                two objects, in motion

speed-shifting past the cemetery

                              I kept one hand on the wheel
              & the other between her legs