Life By the Water in Winter

 

 

 

Life By the Water in Winter

The Port of Oakland 

 

 

One somber evening

in January

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's a short walk from my pad

I'm down here at least

once a week

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cloud formation 

 

 

 

Saltwater estuary dusk

 

 from the

house of Cognac

 

 

 

I have revived my custom

 to enjoy a tiny tipple

every so often

There's a vast booze mart down here

were I copped something nice

 

It has a softening effect

on the edge of one's nerves

Coast Guard Manoeuvres

 

 

Turn this thing around 

to fuel up

 

 

 A sensitive vessel 

without doubt

 

 

 

Warm day on the Bay vibe

I don't wave 

as would a rube

 

 

 

About face accomplished

onward, Guardians of the Coast

Stop all the polluters and the tax-evaders

Board the pirates the traffickers the poachers

& all the cruel smugglers

Port Fire Station

The firemen are up to something

 

 

They've been working on the roof

and have summoned a ladder truck 

It seems they are attaching large numerals

facing upward

Perhaps for helicopters to see

and so to land

 

 

 The San Francisco Ferry pulls

into the landing

 

 

 

 

 

Passengers board eagerly 

with a firm belief that San Francisco 

can still be magic 

on a Saturday Night

Lake Merritt

 

My other wildlife refuge

here several times a week

sometimes for a brief respite

other times for a few hours

 

 

 

At little as a half-hour sitting by the water

works wonders

No distractions except 

for the occasional image capture

 

 

 

 

Being peaceful

 

 

 

 

 Sometimes the sky

 

 

It's Martin Luther King Day
A motorcade drives by

 gospel singing on a flat bed truck
live and loud

 

 

 Lots of diving birds migrate here

for the months of short daylight

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert W. Crown memorial

State Beach Park

Alameda 

 

 

 

Just perfect weather

above average for February 

I've got bluegrass in my ear buds

Radio KPFA over the web

 

 

 

The lowest of tides

teeming with life

 

 

 

In winter when the sunlight is brief

seaweed grows out of the sea

onto the walkway 

which sometimes lies underwater

 

 

Plump ground squirrels

feed and frisk

They watch to see if I have food

as they come and go from 

underground burrows 

 

 

 

 

I came later in the afternoon

to find it as gloriously deserted

as I had hoped

 

 

 

 

 

To commune 

with a mystical moon

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friends enjoy the last of a sunny day

perched facing the marina

 

Preternatural quiet prevails

when my radio show is over

and I say farewell to my fond

smoke spot bench of yore

 

 

 Make my way back

the way I came

 

 

 

Webster Street

 

 

 

 

Botticelli  tchotchke

 

 

 

 

As seen through a mirror

in a window

 

 

 

 

 

 

 In graphic Alameda

 

Another hometown USA

 

 

 

 

Tomorrow will be
Saint Valentine's Day

 

 

 

 

 Alameda regulars observe a different holiday

sit mesmerized by football screens

watching an interminable spectacle

 

 

 

 

At the neighborhood corner pub

 

 

At Santa Clara and Webster
an extended police action is in progress
And I just missed a bus so I must wait here 
full term until the next one comes
I counted four Alameda police cars, 
two all black unmarked cars and a Sheriff's vehicle
Apparently a fairly serious incident occurred on a bus
sitting dormant now as matters are endlessly sorted out

An old Navy base town with a conservative,

 not to say authoritarian, streak

Alcohol on sale everywhere yet 

there are no cannabis shops in sight

 

 

Onward

January-February 2022

 

Summer High Tide

 

 

 

 

 

 

Solitude includes the great outdoors
and its various populations

 There is no avoiding this conclusion

There is in fact no conclusion

 

 

 

 

 

 

When in doubt I go to the beach

 

 

Always good for vicarious thrills

 

 

 

 Windy hazy day

mild temperatures underneath

 

 

 Wings

 

 

 

 Flight departure

 

 

I'll hold down the fort

 

 

 

The surf shop is hopping 

whatever way the wind blows

 

 

 

Lots of happy faces

 

 

 

 

 

Outdoor shower

 

 

 

The swift

Incredibly swift

 

 

Hydro-planing above the water 

I can't imagine how they stay planted on the board

 

 

 

 

 

Nonchalant pelicans fly over

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Inevitably the wind moves me down the beach

 

 

 

 I found a picnic table in a fairly calm spot

for my plant-based lunch:

Hummus, sprouted wheat bread, salad greens

and my bespoke dried fruit medley

 

 

 

 

Came right down to the shore afterwards 

as the high tide rolled up

This end of the beach is much less windy

lying in the sand one is unaffected by it

 

 

 

 

 

Mom watches over 

a close-knit Muslim family I deduce

The adult women remained modestly dressed at the beach

 

The water is warm

The Bay is rather shallow here

on the South side of Alameda island

  

 

 

 He wasn't going near the water

Dogs are not allowed on the beach

It's a bird sanctuary 

but people are reliably lawless

and self-indulgent

 

 

A circus of flying acrobats

Sometimes flying inches above the wavelets

I was revived by another wave of Cannabis 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Did I mention there was a lot of pelicans?

 

 

 

More by far than I had ever seen here

 

 

 

 

As if it was The Day of the Pelicans

 

 

I stayed until nearly full high tide
which occurred at 5:41 pm

 

Hop-frogged out of there

to Webster street

 

Monumental pillars 

of Mushroomland

A happy place for all who visit it

 

 

 Mycophilia

 

When I got home 

not so faraway 

reached quickly by water

I slipped into a twilight sleep

Rolled over and dived 

to the depths of it

17 August 2021