I Dreamt of a Bus Terminal

I Dreamt of a Bus Terminal

                           Maybe all one can do is hope to end up

                           with the right regrets.

                                                                      Arthur Miller

I dreamt of a bus terminal

linoleum tenderized by soles, air staled

by souls

Aswarm with vacant visage that spoke

all language but mine - every sign alien

every word unimagined

Here and there a poster of a beach

or a mountain or the LA Airport Theme

Building here and there a diesel burble

The scrambled chatter - atteindre lograr erreichen

television amour amor liebe movie studios

famille familia familie

One long queue passed the time

stock-still intent on the departure gate

as if they had pre-determined goals

Preset direction

I waited among them and their intent

for somewhere to somewhere unknown

We rode for hours as black crabbed into the windows

and then the stops began

one by one each one ripe as blue pre-dawn

I chose a place amid the mercury shadows of palms

and stayed there a lifetime

to meet natives in pleats and ties- to find a purpose

with celluloid plow and celluloid scythe

Never quite sure where I was

where I had come from

what else I might have missed or why

                                #

Beverly Hills Lunch

Beverly Hills Lunch

Jacaranda petals on black pitch
Jags and Beemers flare sun
from thick clear coat
valets namelessly jog from car to car
hold your door

The cloth napkin is rough
at your lip
Lemon water and olive
oil bread load the wait

Specials consist of rock
shrimp and baby arugula
the waiter is too handsome
the menu is too heavy

Sharon Stone is too pale
paler than humanly possible
don’t look
at her table again
be cool – it is the role
you wear
temporary owner
of a studio title

#