The B-side of a once & future flashback

Sunlight spinning like a quarter on the sidewalk
It’s high noon or a minute after & I’ve
never seriously considered a
swan-dive into a spoonful of Drāno
but you never know…

Fear of failure?   Why should we be afraid of failure?
We fail so often here         & so gracefully

CLUNK   /   THUD   /   SPLAT

A Musical Interlude
East of the Sun (West of the Moon)
as it segues into
(I’d Like to Get You on a) Slow Boat to China
Encore:   Expressway to Yr Skull

                              Roar splash gurgle crash

              (a leftover drop of seawater in my ear
              soundtrack to Moby-Dick imagining Ahab as a surfer
              with a mess of clouds racing by overhead
              as in a timelapse tableau punctuated by gulls & the
              occasional airplane carrying a cargo of Ishmaels
              all waiting in line to use the toilet

That was then / this is later

The nautical star tattooed on my right arm
was supposed to keep me from feeling so lost?
standing at the corner of Beach St & Wipeout Ave
near the latitude of Tacos Locos
under a clear blue sky that just won’t quit