A Day on the Bay with RAY

What was yesterday?  

a dream we dreamed long ago

For the Flaneur it's a recurring one,

Indulge him if you are free

1.

 Gangway

 Looks like my ride's here

 Shipping is big business at the Port of Oakland

Last year stevedores joined with demonstrators

To prevent the unloading of a Israeli ship

 Choppy waters denote stiff wind

But the air is sun-hot so it's not too cold

 Here we are again

 2.

Fisherman's Wharf Today

This sour dough bakery is popular with tourists,

They have dressed a bread made in the shape of a crocodile

In the triumphalist emblemata of corporate sports

 Face of the weather-beaten wharf

 There are many accurate historical displays

And interesting artifacts galore hereabout

This bogus pirate stuff obviously not withstanding

 Now this is a display of living history

They sell live Dungeness crabs too

 Skulls of sea and shore animals

 The venerable National Park visitor center

 Today I'm bound for the little beach 

Alongside the Hyde Street Pier

 3.

Hyde Street Pier 

Petit Dejeuner

It's a lovely place to spend time
Alone with a snowy egret

 An endlessly pleasant perspective

 Gentle visitors enjoying the Pier 

With it's historical demonstrations

The wind is often persistent here

This close to the Golden Gate

This little cove is sheltered 

By the windward fences and screens
of the swimming and boating clubs

 A boy came scurrying underneath

 Bravely entering the cold saltwater

In their little wet suits

Look into the glass onion

Go into the cold water

The water goes away again,

Leaves me buried in the sand

One contented sea-cat

 4.

A Round Trip

Time to rejoin the parade

Captain Trips is in the Wax Museum,

After his cremation Mill Valley was wrecked,

A white wax simulacrum of the King of Pop,

Now that's verisimilitude

Time to go back

Out on the water again,

Leave you land-loving women alone

The building on the left is the Blue and Gold dock

Over it rises Telegraph Hill, Coit Tower, North Beach, very, very high rents

To the right the high-rise financial district downtown,

Then at a distance the buildings of Nob Hill, with its astronomical rents,

Lastly, Russian Hill which you need be a Russian oligarch to afford

There is still a very brilliant side to San Francisco,

And there's a definite dark side

Well, there's the bridge,

Oakland awaits us with open arms

 5.

Bay Ship Sail By

 

so slowly descends

 a squadron of pelicans

the long day goes on

23 June 2015