Oakland to Orinda to Oakland
Contra Costa county and back
to see a medical specialist
All Hallows Eve
morning
Now there's something scary
Always was something fishy
about this place
Someone across Washington street
has expressed a different response
I'm up and out early
walking to my connection
A ten-car train
Good-bye, good-bye
good-bye
A charming niche town
a nook in the Hills
Orinda
a little Vermont
Hey Orinda,
look who's come to town
look who's come to town
Feels like a dream
of a vaguely
familiar place
My way is uncertain
my purse is slender
I try to follow
the pictographic map
to no avail
Leaving the high-perched
BART station involves
a circular maze of walkways
A charming girl walked me through
she was African-American and tall
Smitten I made her laugh
The office was nearby,
It really is a beautiful
township
An hour in the waiting room
I was quite early,
Several chapters went by
of The Great Gatsby,
a bit overwritten but poetic
All Souls Day
Wednesday
Patience is grace
The view from the next waiting room
where they had a plastic jack-o-lantern
full of candy
Indulging because it's Halloween
I was animated by the time
I saw the doctor
I saw the doctor
That happened
I made the most of happenstance
to gather a little adventure
Here's a sculpture of rusty wrenches
jutting out from the sidewalk
Here's a sculpture of rusty wrenches
jutting out from the sidewalk
As I approached the center
a shabby black unmarked
police car drove past,
police car drove past,
looked me over out of boredom,
Looked like he was on negro patrol
You see this from the highway but
I had only driven through town once,
when I lived briefly with my Brother
in Contra Costa county
Mostly affluent white people
but Meso-American roots
were also observable
A fun place
I'm getting an impression
Whimsical, cute...
Old fashioned
a little bit cornball
A real toy town
Trains drop you off
Mains street culminates in a round-about
an amusement park carousel
So let's check out
the fun house
Well let's see the wax,
proof is in the pudding
O wow...
Does whatever a spider can
Iron Man
looks imposing
a little right-wing
and unbending,
Oh that's right,
the guy plays him ironically
Dead Elvis
rides again
Robot from 70s sci-fi serial,
I saw it when it came out--
all but forgotten now
There's the local civic
landmark of record
Lurching around town
on a haunted holiday
Free movie night,
Sounds interesting
but may be crowded
Marble wings to
fly to Wonderland
Shall we go in?
Oh yes
popular aesthetic
jack-pot moderne
Masculine display
the male gaze
That quiet small town
society's still intact
weathers fine
mass extinction far far away
vibe
Let's all go to the lobby
I'm waiting until dark
to resume my trick-or-treats
Reminds me I had to
produce a urine sample
and I had just taken a leak
Man troubles
Some people weren't happy
about the nudity
There was talk in Toy Town
No cowardly lions
we take the leap
Looks like it's the edge of town
we've reached the round-about
Short but jam-packed
Orinda knows how
to market itself
Back to my urban squalor
my wand still lit
A spooky Halloween at home
Trick-or-treats in early dark
then determined rain
shut it all down at nine,
Classical phantasms on radio
Trick-or-treats in early dark
then determined rain
shut it all down at nine,
Classical phantasms on radio
31 October 2016
