Thermal

The sand shifts beneath the wash of waves.   I test the water, thinking of all the shadows I had to step through to get here.   What about the hall of mirrors between my ears?   Just another attraction at the deserted amusement park that wears my shoes.   A slow sky bending back over the ferris wheel, the loop, the bumper cars, immaculate greenery, weeds, broken glass, gold teeth, Pompeii, Hermosa Beach, Teotihuacàn, a whalebone cello w/barbedwire strings, barefoot eucalyptus spiderwebs, warm beer at 3 in the morning, & all of it thereby assembled like an ancient alphabet.   The steam-driven calliope churning underwater.   Bells in the kelp grove.   Greek astronomy.   Lee Marvin.   A slab of concrete rotting on the beach.   I’ve got a hymnal full of the stuff.   All tricked out & rationalized like a full-metal bikini swamp shimmering in the dark.