Voyage au le Musee Mechanique (The Secret of the Sea, Pt.III, Chap. 2)

 Film noir en couleur

The Flaneur leaves clues winding to a noirist waterfront establishment revered throughout the boneknob land. There one can launch oneself into San Francisco's shadowy underwater underground, and submerse oneself in the submarine valley of the uncanny. Where, like hungry ghosts, the lost and lonely look for sex and drugs and salt water mind taffy.

1.

A Stiff Sea Breeze and Choppy Seas

The week of the summer solstice

the sea breeze picked up and cooled off vociferously

San Francisco was scoured blue

I had never seen chop like that on the bay

under clear skies

It was like waves on the open ocean

My picnic plans were undeterred

despite the blustery day

A lawn up near the bocce ball courts,

wind protection carved into the hill

I can sit for contented hours

watching the wind play endlessly

 on the surface of the water

The day seemed too long,

the wind moved everything on

Desertion pervaded the Hyde street pier,

the ineffable feeling of loneliness 

in paintings by Giorgio di Chirico

The eerie sunlight resisted diminution

 Highlighting a macabre dimension
in the everyday

2.

World War II Submarine

Time to roll up our sleeves and stay vigilant

Get our mojo workin' again

And darn the torpedoes

To keep our noses wet and cold

The way we show we care

On the impending July Fourth holiday

Never forget,
it's a beautiful, beautiful world

 3.

Pure Psychic Automatism

A place of happy nostaglia

And of melancholic blues in the night

 It's all happening in perpetuity,
ghosts of Playland at-the-Beach find sanctuary

at the legendary Musee Mechanique

Let Jolly Jack be you're guide,

he knows where it's at

And she knows how to shake that thing,

nobody's business if she do

A place where men dance with men,

you can be proud here

Entertainment for connoisseurs of every sort

A place for those with a nose for narcotics

Some folks sure enjoy being sleepy,

and feeling no pain

It's no hanging matter, it's no capital crime

Sailor Jerry here is all about one thing.....

 rum sodomy and the lash

San Francisco has always been a very wet town

Of course that stuff leads to a familiar scenario

I tend to be more spiritual myself,

more psychically inclined

She seen them come and go

frankly she's seen it all

Mrs Bates will lend
an understanding ear

Nothing too woo-woo,
didn't fall off a potato truck, you know
(like the girl in Frenzy did)

But what's to worry

If you miss the last boat, 

there are other ways to get across the bay

Won't you stay with us for another drink ...

....you can remain here forever if you'd like

To be continued in recurring flashbacks.

18 June 2014
topmost "Laughing Sal": April 2014