Train to Thanksgiving

I re-enact the inception of a journey

under taken this time of year

twelve years ago








1.
Estimated time of
Arrival

The quixotic vacant lot

in over-crowded Chinatown

survives another year

The haunted

Oakland Portal

 Chinese Rocks

No one goes there

no one will come here

at night

I met my girl

by the factory wall

Dirty old town

dirty old town

Here's Mr. Padlock

I see him

all over town

Condo conversion

anyone?

Wouldn't mind

 calling it home

Hang a prismatic crystal

in the window, Mother

Victorian factory from

"the good old days"

Smoked Meats

The Platonic

original sign

Subsequent iteration

Smoked Pork

fast going in

Slow coming out

Clog your drainpipe

if you're not careful

Sandwich shop

featuring smoked meat

on white bread

Psychedelic paranoia

Jack London Square

Amtrak statio0n

2.

Waiting on a Train

Mock classical

lost train stations sugest

an endless journey

All of us await

our time of departure

 Anticipation builds

All aboard

People going places

for the holiday

Ta ta

I'm staying put

A toast to all

who travek

San Francisco

and the Port of Oakland

 evanescent in November

Wavy lines

of projection

When the train

come in the station

I looked her in the eye

Soon all will be covered

a continuous billboard

of capitalist escapism

I answer to my own

call of the wild

Then I go home

for tea time

New mural near 8th street

the caffeine of the actual

abstract expressionism

uncommon

22 November 2017