Showing posts with label truck. Show all posts
Showing posts with label truck. Show all posts

Friday, July 13, 2018

A Summer Day on the Island






 
 
 
Impromptu sojourn to Alameda
leads to felicitous discovery
much of it inside  my own head
 
 
Flag of the
U.S.A.

 
Had a meeting in my building
 then I was glad to get outside
for a day of relaxation
 
But what to do with it?
 
 
I'll just wander out prepared
and something will occur to me
 

 
Something's is coming to me
I wanted to sit somewhere
by the water and have a smoke


 
That's it
an appropriate bus
happened to be
waiting
 
 
Off to Alameda again
Turntable town
Retro-city 
 
 
Where the flag
will never cease to fly



 
Where the Space Age
never ended

 
Perfect for 1970s Punk singles,
Hold your fingers in your ears
it's the Cramp's "Human Fly"
96 tears in 96 eyes
 
 
This artifact is even older

 
A tote box for 45s
 

 
A vintage Crosley All-in-One,
Crosley Bendix was yet another
stage name for Don Joyce
a friend and collaborator
who left us in July 2015
 
Devo's Mark Mothersbaugh
wore Don's final zebra-skin cowboy hat
for their encore at
at the recent Burger Boogaloo
in homage to the mix-master of Negativland
and Over the Edge
 
 
 
Holy cowboy hat,
Batman!
 
 
Resting Batmobile
It will remain safe parked here
as I continue on foot
 


 



 
Old Brexit Brian
We sent our porcine president
across the pond 
on a Trump baby blimp
Hope they show him a good time
 
 
 
Emblematic flag
over the people's post office
 

 
Glory at the nature center
Crab Cove
Can you spot the big bumble bee?

 
Now when kids draw flowers
they add a skull
 

 
A glorious day
of ideal temperature
wispy clouds and a breeze
 
 
The walkway is certainly
 submarine today
here come Canada geese

 
They swam right over to me
as if they were expecting me
Someone must feed them here
 
Well off you pop then
 
 
The whole conga line
paddled off in the direction
of Crown Beach

 
Rock Island line, baby

 
Trees are expressive
if you look with care

 
Flooded window effect
at the Coast Guard
recruitment center
 
In case you happen to be
strapped
 
 
When I took this one the door
opened and a handsome
Coast Guardsman came out
to see what I was about
 
I'm all about Summer
the birds and the bees
and the beautiful Bay area

 
Land of abundant
Ice cream treats

 
Fantasy delivery truck

 
He's still proudly rocking
his Pride coloration

 
Fellas, enjoy your adult beverage but
Please don't paw the dames
 

 
Another season in the sun
for the venerable RAY Man
child of July

 
Shall I take
the Batmobile?

 
Perhaps astride a sacred cow
I'll project myself
tunnel under the estuary
back to 8tgh Street
 
Later as I made dinner
the sky turned gold

 
I memorialize
another
 cloudscape
 
 
 
 
12 July 2018
 
 
 
 
 
 

Friday, June 15, 2018

Oakland Babylon

in progress



 
 
 
Roll up
 the dark carnival that never ends
it just moves the police tape

 
In broad daylight
in a Broadway crosswalk




 
Super sexy heroes


 
Revelers




All smiles


 
Despite the attention of a
verbalizing African American man
overenthusiastic over
the voluptuous ladies
 
 
As they sweep past 


One wearing a décolleté gown


The other a see-through body stocking
that's all behind her



Not everyone is so
extravagantly dressed
for what I think is
Comic Con 2018


Motorcycle cops underscore
 a heavy police presence
a few blocks from police headquarters


Someone may have called the cops
about Black men wearing masks
(Nice kids actually)

And there is...



A Black sports idol on every pole,
The cops are abundant
because tonight's basketball
is to be a very big game
won by the local heroes
and the party is on ninth after it

 
This guy was great
middle-aged mad scientist
but I couldn't get a 
full frontal exposure
 
 
Based I think on
odd comics or something
I admit I don't get
 
 
Queen Bee
of her peer group 
 


Next Day


Comic Con is winding
down with a private sidewalk party
Here anybody making money
can just inconvenience the public



 
 Early exits
leave you wanting more
What will you miss?
 
 
Time to cross the line
that separates us
from make-believe

 
 They'll always be next year
until there isn't
see you then
 
 Next comes
Burger Boogaloo
 
 
Hosted by John Waters
 the least repressed
the most anarchistic
Catholic saint ever was
 
 
Eldritch Punk and New Wave acts
turn up for a pogo and a hamburger
every year in Mosswood park

 
Sign on BART elevator
at Rockridge
Yes it's come to this
Talk about the truth of
Devolution


Then the elevator door opened

 
Over the incessant traffic
I manage to avoid
Mount Tamalpais hovers
over a urban copse


 
There's another one
of these dumbos
saluting the Oakland As
 
Down at Jack London Square

 
I had just seen this same truck
near my pad
figure it deserves a portrait

 
 Meanwhile it's ethnic
war all the time
Video gaming addiction
has been judged a mental illness

Nevertheless
 

Every once in a while
one may meet
an elegant lady
 


 
 
June 2016