I carried my surfboard across a bridge
(it was actually a pier
extending far out into the ocean
the wood was very old & sections had petrified
into a deeply veined off-white stone
resembling perhaps marble?)
a steep incline drenched in corrugated
steel on the flipside of a delta slide version of
I Wanna Be Your Dog
with subsidiary barking harmonicas
& tide charts in the upper register
a real heartbreaker
beneath the ripple patterns & regret
tombstoned in the palomino sand
The tide washes over making it (the sand) darker
as though in shadow she said
beneath a swarm of gulls swirling
in the heavy sky over Ocean Street
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Sunday, March 27, 2011
The first classic beach barbeque was the cremation of Shelley
Mayan temple basilica (classical Roman, in
Sanskrit) a CATHEDRAL (Hawaiian gothic)
submerged just beyond the reef
(its feathers are silver
rippling in a pool of stained glass)
a pagoda, a pavillion, a palisades
bronze door balustrade cistern
(part of the concrete seawall had broken, crumbled, rotted
away exposing rusty twisted rebar bones
jutting from its gray carcass
as if a chunk of raincloud
ritually stained
(prehistoric neon tubing exposed
where the Aztec pornstar descends
her feet barely touching the ground
fuck shit piss dance
Sanskrit) a CATHEDRAL (Hawaiian gothic)
submerged just beyond the reef
(its feathers are silver
rippling in a pool of stained glass)
a pagoda, a pavillion, a palisades
bronze door balustrade cistern
(part of the concrete seawall had broken, crumbled, rotted
away exposing rusty twisted rebar bones
jutting from its gray carcass
as if a chunk of raincloud
ritually stained
(prehistoric neon tubing exposed
where the Aztec pornstar descends
her feet barely touching the ground
fuck shit piss dance
Friday, March 25, 2011
It melts in your brain not in your hand
The puzzle pieces are all
right where you left them
try to remember the connection
seahorse / hippocampus
“indulgent & huge”
I forget why exactly…
an apparition green, translucent
but pouring water was I still just a memory?
How was I to know? The
dragon in the waves breathing fire & great plumes
of mist in the Manchurian surf almanac
on the shelf
next to Hawaiian Mythology & an empty
tequila bottle (Cabrito Reposado)
The sky’s overcast
velvet, or cement
the air is moving left to right
sea lions had wings once
right where you left them
try to remember the connection
seahorse / hippocampus
“indulgent & huge”
I forget why exactly…
an apparition green, translucent
but pouring water was I still just a memory?
How was I to know? The
dragon in the waves breathing fire & great plumes
of mist in the Manchurian surf almanac
on the shelf
next to Hawaiian Mythology & an empty
tequila bottle (Cabrito Reposado)
The sky’s overcast
velvet, or cement
the air is moving left to right
sea lions had wings once
Thursday, March 24, 2011
If I wrote this in Tijuana 20 years ago would I remember
Navigate long dark hallyway of monastic 15th century
labyrinth
I’m looking for the alcove where they
keep the vending machines
There are various pelicans & cormorants in dark
robes assembled speaking to one another in hushed tones
as though sifting through reflections in a broken mirror
I lean out over the stone window ledge gazing down upon
the ocean
all tangled in conflicting tides all wrong
the waves all broken all gray-blue green
with foam folded into every corner
(but then I may have been looking at the sky)
The wind kicks up it’s cold this is the day I died
an eye-of-pelican sky glimmering above
labyrinth
I’m looking for the alcove where they
keep the vending machines
There are various pelicans & cormorants in dark
robes assembled speaking to one another in hushed tones
as though sifting through reflections in a broken mirror
I lean out over the stone window ledge gazing down upon
the ocean
all tangled in conflicting tides all wrong
the waves all broken all gray-blue green
with foam folded into every corner
(but then I may have been looking at the sky)
The wind kicks up it’s cold this is the day I died
an eye-of-pelican sky glimmering above
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Do the Iguana
Move the window slightly left of the palm tree
rain rain rain rain rain
the rain has it’s own agenda (wind)
A quart of Corona Familiar to keep me warm
dark bronze glass against the dark gray sky
drizzle music
I have mailed off the last of the severed fingers
more rain falls there are blue sparks behind my eyes
my left knee creaks like a coffin lid
the window has it’s own agenda (rain)
palm tree swaying in the wind
this doesn’t explain anything I hope
piano in the mud (strings rusted an octave higher
rain rain rain rain rain
the rain has it’s own agenda (wind)
A quart of Corona Familiar to keep me warm
dark bronze glass against the dark gray sky
drizzle music
I have mailed off the last of the severed fingers
more rain falls there are blue sparks behind my eyes
my left knee creaks like a coffin lid
the window has it’s own agenda (rain)
palm tree swaying in the wind
this doesn’t explain anything I hope
piano in the mud (strings rusted an octave higher
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Swamp Cooler
I keep returning to the same high cliff
keep diving off it into the churning water
& keep surviving
bobbing like a cork on the surface
last night or the night before
playing a game of cribbage with Thomas Chatterton
way up in a lighthouse with the end of the world crashing
around outside
(it’s dark in there but I’ll keep my shades on thanks)
nameless
sin nombre
we seldom cast a shadow
squalor is perhaps the more accurate description
carved stone inlay
marble, onyx, travertine, granite
some kind of composite
sand, water, seaweed
certain flowers made of bronze
plum tree grows upsidedown in rainpuddle
all its alabaster blossoms having fallen
shattering on the ground which is the sky
crushed with clouds
keep diving off it into the churning water
& keep surviving
bobbing like a cork on the surface
last night or the night before
playing a game of cribbage with Thomas Chatterton
way up in a lighthouse with the end of the world crashing
around outside
(it’s dark in there but I’ll keep my shades on thanks)
nameless
sin nombre
we seldom cast a shadow
squalor is perhaps the more accurate description
carved stone inlay
marble, onyx, travertine, granite
some kind of composite
sand, water, seaweed
certain flowers made of bronze
plum tree grows upsidedown in rainpuddle
all its alabaster blossoms having fallen
shattering on the ground which is the sky
crushed with clouds
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Lulled into degrees of difficulty
Vera Cruz means “True Cross”
Santa Cruz is “Holy Cross”
The Royal Road, El Camino Real
600 miles long
El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Angeles
(that’s L.A. to you)
but that place that no longer exists
although the name remains the same & the freeways
just as gridlocked
Oh
f a d i n g
Byzantine confluence
a light scribble flesh & bone & concrete
Where’d all this rain come from?
north & south
bajo de las olas
Balboa, Big Sur, Bolinas
bubbles
rattling
far out at sea
Santa Cruz is “Holy Cross”
The Royal Road, El Camino Real
600 miles long
El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Angeles
(that’s L.A. to you)
but that place that no longer exists
although the name remains the same & the freeways
just as gridlocked
Oh
f a d i n g
Byzantine confluence
a light scribble flesh & bone & concrete
Where’d all this rain come from?
north & south
bajo de las olas
Balboa, Big Sur, Bolinas
bubbles
rattling
far out at sea
Friday, March 18, 2011
Eggs & Bones
Our Lady of Guadalupe Maitreya Avalokitesvara Batman & Famous Monsters “make the sky roll up like a hide” says the Veda half in shade half in sun & the other half where it’s raining applause in the eucalyptus the shorebreak rumble beneath the breath of sea breeze tumult in a bottle cap whiff of death rot on the beach sun tan lotion rust & eternity drums in the sand the ink needle tracing sunset nobody saw me is it cold in here questions the answer you have no idea how difficult it was to restrain myself at that moment & after I walked back from the beach in the Latin translation having shifted several inches north remember how warm the pavement was
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Tar Beach
Fitful swampage of messy clouds you
possibly walk thru on your way?
rain, radiation, Pacific currents
“Thus did I assume the vestments”
(air, water, fire)
their flowers kiss death
on the eyelids
swamped with tears
You were part of a plan
(spring, summer, fall)
that place you can go to
or return from
“I bring you greetings from the islands―
Hawaii, Oahu, Kauai, Molokai, California, Africa”
just follow these damp footsteps
(wings too heavy to be of much use)
possibly walk thru on your way?
rain, radiation, Pacific currents
“Thus did I assume the vestments”
(air, water, fire)
their flowers kiss death
on the eyelids
swamped with tears
You were part of a plan
(spring, summer, fall)
that place you can go to
or return from
“I bring you greetings from the islands―
Hawaii, Oahu, Kauai, Molokai, California, Africa”
just follow these damp footsteps
(wings too heavy to be of much use)
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Too Heavy To Be Lifted
A blank sky
tongues of flame dropping in
all Pentecostal
& in your eyes
a postcard sunset dipped in gasoline
but there are variegated flames in the ocean as well
& beneath it
among the cloud machines
wave machines
& the machines that generate impossible neon plumes
of sunset haze
to hide inside of
shadows nailed to the sand
pelican flies slightly behind
his own shadow on the wave
solid set in stone for a split
second
a psychosomatic bait & switch
Mexican standoff situation
surfacing in the eucalyptus kelp grove
all drizzled in silver green fishscale auras
mermaid lip gloss, toe nail polish
“garlands of sea blossoms in her hair”
oil slick beach glass rotting styrofoam 1,000 years
tongues of flame dropping in
all Pentecostal
& in your eyes
a postcard sunset dipped in gasoline
but there are variegated flames in the ocean as well
& beneath it
among the cloud machines
wave machines
& the machines that generate impossible neon plumes
of sunset haze
to hide inside of
shadows nailed to the sand
pelican flies slightly behind
his own shadow on the wave
solid set in stone for a split
second
a psychosomatic bait & switch
Mexican standoff situation
surfacing in the eucalyptus kelp grove
all drizzled in silver green fishscale auras
mermaid lip gloss, toe nail polish
“garlands of sea blossoms in her hair”
oil slick beach glass rotting styrofoam 1,000 years
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Vision of the Sermon (Jacob Wrestling w/the Angel)
I think I have achieved a great simplicity, rustic and superstitious.
―Paul Gauguin
You sink a little deeper
lighting matches
underwater
as palm trees tumble in the wind…
Other times, other places
memories, feelings
too heavy to be lifted
like the shadow of a seagull
haunting the inaccurate thrift store
of my personality―
a seashell echo,
a rusted finger of coral,
the beach at Waikiki
in braille…
& the moon is a rock at the bottom of a tidepool
shimmering with reflected light
―Paul Gauguin
You sink a little deeper
lighting matches
underwater
as palm trees tumble in the wind…
Other times, other places
memories, feelings
too heavy to be lifted
like the shadow of a seagull
haunting the inaccurate thrift store
of my personality―
a seashell echo,
a rusted finger of coral,
the beach at Waikiki
in braille…
& the moon is a rock at the bottom of a tidepool
shimmering with reflected light
Saturday, March 12, 2011
High Pressure Liquid Chromatography
Sun illuminates
translucent pear
blossoms
invisible spirits or demons
falling thru nets of flame
The Fall of the Roman Empire
& a bottle of beer
(Negra Modelo)
at the moment
looking backwards
Rome built & dismantled
overnight
translucent pear
blossoms
invisible spirits or demons
falling thru nets of flame
The Fall of the Roman Empire
& a bottle of beer
(Negra Modelo)
at the moment
looking backwards
Rome built & dismantled
overnight
Friday, March 11, 2011
Slip & Slide
Nowhere Friday with
blank shorebreak foam
& a tsunami warning (waves
bouncing off the devastion in
Japan surging towards us
500 miles an hour
but that’s a
long way to travel & it’s a
tsunami ripple surge when it gets
here knocking boats around in the
harbor capsizing a few
beneath the lemonade sun
inundated with apocalyptic rumors
as one might kickflip a chunk of concrete
& land like Cortez
on the shores of Montezuma
(another righteous dope fiend who ain’t never
coming home
bottoming out in the
Pacific sludge
the tide will get high in a couple of
hours
but I’m slightly below that now
blank shorebreak foam
& a tsunami warning (waves
bouncing off the devastion in
Japan surging towards us
500 miles an hour
but that’s a
long way to travel & it’s a
tsunami ripple surge when it gets
here knocking boats around in the
harbor capsizing a few
beneath the lemonade sun
inundated with apocalyptic rumors
as one might kickflip a chunk of concrete
& land like Cortez
on the shores of Montezuma
(another righteous dope fiend who ain’t never
coming home
bottoming out in the
Pacific sludge
the tide will get high in a couple of
hours
but I’m slightly below that now
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Nitrous Peroxide
Walking downhill backwards
the sun felt good on my
shoulders
in the dyslexic translation
from neon to Latin
tilting towards the ocean here in
California spelled with a “K”
like “katatonic”
as if to whisper
“I’m a bowl of excitement,
bitch”
& a single plum blossom
crashes
to the ground
in the biblical haiku
you’ve got tattooed on your hip…
I prefer a milkfed steel
tidewater canto
at sunset
& an unobstructed view
the sun felt good on my
shoulders
in the dyslexic translation
from neon to Latin
tilting towards the ocean here in
California spelled with a “K”
like “katatonic”
as if to whisper
“I’m a bowl of excitement,
bitch”
& a single plum blossom
crashes
to the ground
in the biblical haiku
you’ve got tattooed on your hip…
I prefer a milkfed steel
tidewater canto
at sunset
& an unobstructed view
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Reaction Time
Blinking in the slow dark
lifting now
as clouds rearrange themselves
in anticipation of
the next million dollar idea
falling through the emptiness
blue, green, dark or not at all
reciting the 23rd Psalm (the
cantilever section)
& the palm trees join in
whispering like distant rain
lifting now
as clouds rearrange themselves
in anticipation of
the next million dollar idea
falling through the emptiness
blue, green, dark or not at all
reciting the 23rd Psalm (the
cantilever section)
& the palm trees join in
whispering like distant rain
Monday, March 7, 2011
Every Single Song
Waking slowly
disoriented
but calm
whatever these imaginary qualities possess
propensities
too many levels of reality to scroll through
never enough
The eastern sky lit up with the death of winter
& paved with clouds
like a parking lot I remember near the beach
in Playa del Rey
a million years ago
disoriented
but calm
whatever these imaginary qualities possess
propensities
too many levels of reality to scroll through
never enough
The eastern sky lit up with the death of winter
& paved with clouds
like a parking lot I remember near the beach
in Playa del Rey
a million years ago
Sunday, March 6, 2011
A controlled habit
Tipping back the flamingo bottle
lit from the inside
                              knowing all the while that
                                                death is out there
              welding pink shadows to laundromats
It’s not about what you have but
what you’ve lost
                              & the sun sliding down the silk sleeve
of a sky the color of boiling kool-aid
              just now starting to dissolving into
blue blue nadas
                                                The ocean breeze competing w/the
traffic on Hwy 1 for our
                              eternally divided attention
as we knock down the auguries of innocence in rusty tidepool
sessions
              with blonde on blonde enameling
lit from the inside
                              knowing all the while that
                                                death is out there
              welding pink shadows to laundromats
It’s not about what you have but
what you’ve lost
                              & the sun sliding down the silk sleeve
of a sky the color of boiling kool-aid
              just now starting to dissolving into
blue blue nadas
                                                The ocean breeze competing w/the
traffic on Hwy 1 for our
                              eternally divided attention
as we knock down the auguries of innocence in rusty tidepool
sessions
              with blonde on blonde enameling
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Pitching the empties into the abyss
A future self revisiting a past self,
that was me, once
but paddling back & forth across the River Mitsuse
back & forth, in Japanese…
I woke up hungry
it was still dark & rain was falling against the window
glass
--------------------------------------------------
A Brit who publishes a beatnik fan zine wanted to reprint an
excerpt from my Bolinas history. I said okay. That was like
a year ago. I heard that he published the magazine with my
work in it & so I asked if I could get a copy. Turns out he had
already sent it to my old address & it was returned to him. He said
he could re-send it to my current address if I paid for postage.
I don’t have any money, so I never got to see the thing. Maybe
if I was Gary Snyder or Mike McClure or Ginsberg’s old shoes he
would have fallen over himself to get me a copy?
--------------------------------------------------
Lovely Doubloons in the mail today
poems by Sunnylyn, collages by Micah
Mardi Gras 2011
Blossoms opening on the Asian pear tree
big plate of carnitas for dinner
bottles of Victoria from Cerveceria Modelo
A break in the rain
I make a list & throw it away
write letters I’ll never send
& the moon seems heavier than before
pulling down the night
that was me, once
but paddling back & forth across the River Mitsuse
back & forth, in Japanese…
I woke up hungry
it was still dark & rain was falling against the window
glass
--------------------------------------------------
A Brit who publishes a beatnik fan zine wanted to reprint an
excerpt from my Bolinas history. I said okay. That was like
a year ago. I heard that he published the magazine with my
work in it & so I asked if I could get a copy. Turns out he had
already sent it to my old address & it was returned to him. He said
he could re-send it to my current address if I paid for postage.
I don’t have any money, so I never got to see the thing. Maybe
if I was Gary Snyder or Mike McClure or Ginsberg’s old shoes he
would have fallen over himself to get me a copy?
--------------------------------------------------
Lovely Doubloons in the mail today
poems by Sunnylyn, collages by Micah
Mardi Gras 2011
Blossoms opening on the Asian pear tree
big plate of carnitas for dinner
bottles of Victoria from Cerveceria Modelo
A break in the rain
I make a list & throw it away
write letters I’ll never send
& the moon seems heavier than before
pulling down the night
Friday, March 4, 2011
World at Large by Donald Guravich
It is with enormous pleasure I announce the publication of World at Large: Selected Poems 1971-1978 by Donald Guravich. This is Donald’s first book since Blue Chips, a collection of his brilliant short prose pieces which was published in 2003, also by Blue Press.
The poems in World at Large range from Canadian backwoods snow flurry epiphanies, small town political union hall & strip mall generosity (with telepathic details carefully measured), to red dust Mexican incantations, all with clear-eyed lyric precision.
World at large
gets larger Door opens
so large it disappears
A beautiful collection, augmented with elegant line drawings by the poet, World at Large is published in a limited edition of only 175 copies. Get one while you can from Blue Press.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Standing on the Nose in a Stylish Manner
The disembodied tango just
steps from the beach
sunlight folded into a corner of the
inverted swimming pool
above
Yeah, this is the drop edge of the world alright
you can dive off if you want
The soundtrack propelled by a psychedelic oom-pah
punk mariachi band
but ethereal enough
to keep your sunglasses on all night
litanies resigned
to nickle & dime aloha bells
otherwise delicately confused
You can shrug your hips
at passionate accidents
aesthetically arranged
beneath an off-brand palm tree stigmata
& every card you’re dealt
is the blank of hearts
steps from the beach
sunlight folded into a corner of the
inverted swimming pool
above
Yeah, this is the drop edge of the world alright
you can dive off if you want
The soundtrack propelled by a psychedelic oom-pah
punk mariachi band
but ethereal enough
to keep your sunglasses on all night
litanies resigned
to nickle & dime aloha bells
otherwise delicately confused
You can shrug your hips
at passionate accidents
aesthetically arranged
beneath an off-brand palm tree stigmata
& every card you’re dealt
is the blank of hearts
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