January Journey to the Sea
Low sixties and a mild off-shore breeze
My New Year Tradition involves going all the way
across the Bay across the City of San Francisco
to magnificent Ocean Beach
The shock of the water temperature
slaps this baby awake in a new year
The expansive vista opens the mind
I missed the ritual bat the last two years
but I was determined to resume
my Winter rite of passage
in Twenty twenty-two
On My Way
Duboce Park
Robert Frank's The Americans
includes a photograph take here
of a couple lying in the grass
View from MUNI car which has
recently from from downtown subterranea
for a stimulating tour of the real world
Never seen so much room on the N Judah
Most of the ride it was just myself and a small Chinese lady
with a bouquet half her height & a bag of oranges
She picked up on my enjoyment--
in no hurry and looking all around
I'm on a holiday after two years
of feeling rater circumscribed
Stanyan Street and other sorrows
Cole Valley had friends near here so long ago
Down the street on the left is Kezar Stadium
then it's Golden Gate Park
Across from that lies Haight Street one block up from Ashbury
San Francisco neighborhood of legend
On to Irving Street
were old San Francisco can still be found--
Pasquale's Pizzeria Restaurant
Its longevity evident in its vintage sign
a place called a "Pizzeria Restaurant"
Not terribly far from Golden Gate Park
with all it's wonders
and attractions
St Anne of the Sunset
The facade of this Romanesque Catholic church
resembles Wedgewood pottery
Built 1932, parish founded 1904
Would enjoy attending a Mass here
if ever the chance arose
Could you dig a little purple pad
in the Outer Sunset?
Arrival Time
2:30 pm
Waves madly crashing
on an otherwise placid day
Man and dog
dwarfed by turbulent swells
Down the beach
I find a suitable dune
to make my elevated nest
Adventurers and contemplatives alike
show up to confront the wide ocean
A surfer approaches the surf
An incessant challenge
Winter waves
Breathtaking from where I perch
I smoke, have a small lunch
and simply watch awestruck as ever
A lone girl way off to my left
A fellow poet I thought
until I noticed she spent the whole time
looking at her device
The lonely surfer
Considers his quest
He strides to meet the perilous challenge
like a toreador
or an astronaut
Some turn and walk down the beach
toward another easier entry point
or perhaps toward another day
An immense cargo ship
leaves San Francisco Bay
bound for Nowhereville
(Any place other than San Francisco)
From the left: Mount Tamalpais
and the Marin Headlands above
the strait of the olden ate
At center are iconic Seal Rocks
Way on the right is The Cliff House
dormant at the moment I believe
Little boy in corduroy
I weary wait upon the shore
Why do Donovan songs come to mind?
Yes, that's bare feet on Winter's beach
Time has now come
for me to meet my own barefoot challenge
It's down to the sea I go
To stand in the roiling waves
frigid seawater just down from Alaska
rushes up to meet me
Naturally I'm met by a sneaker wave
my feet a foot deep
my feet a foot deep
Proof: you can't get this shot
and not get wet
I grew up on the Atlantic beaches of New England
so I'm no stranger to cold water in motion
I walk backwards all the way out
Good fortune, the frisky wave got within an inch
without actually wetting my pants
and more importantly it stopped just short
of where I left my trusty boots on the shore
A fisherman watched the whole incident
with an incredulous eye
I've got sea legs, baby
5:00
The afternoon is a footprint in sand
The hero emergent
returns from the sea
Feet no doubt numb by this point
The surfers seem elated and most alive
I feel transformed myself
The sun now sinks
it always does
Westernmost San Francisco
seen from Ocean Beach facing East
One's home is 23 miles in that direction
I'll fall asleep tonight
to an oceanic roar
Afterward
Oakland BART station
I got a double eyeful today
invigorating and epiphanous
Back home by 6:30 to get the penne pasta pot aboil,
tomato sauce with New Zealand tuna
gold bell pepper & yellow squash
I watch The Line Up (1958)
a film noir shot in San Francisco
featuring
Seal Rocks & vintage Cliff House scenes
Sutro Baths & Playland at the Beach
Visions of a San Francisco now consigned
to the Twentieth Century
26 January 2022
