December Countdown

 

 

 

 

 

December's children meet up for

Festivity after dark

 

 

 

 

 

 Alameda

 

 

 

 

Bird watch

 

 

 

 

 

My fond submarine walkway

 

 

 

 

As wise as a crow

 

 

 

 Delicate fisher teaches me

the rewards of patience

 

 

 

Miniscule birds of Winter

so perfect are their methods

 

 

Pelican flash mob holds the rocks

 

 

 

 

Tossing a pebble
Some young wag scatters them all

 

 

Peace to all who  dwell on water

 

 

 

 

Berkeley  

 

 

Love cloudy sunny brisk days

 

 

 

Berkeley Bowl

Even a cow must wear a mask

 

 

 

 

 Second Story of Tupper &Reed

Former music store now vacant

 

 

It was called Beckett's in my day 

Then they assumed the name of Tupper & Reed

& seems to be dormant

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just another ghostly echo 

of 20th Century Berkeley

 

 

 

 

I'd like them to remove those garish raised letters

 

 

 

 

 The pied piper of all the fun Berkeley used to be

A few doors down was Edie's ice cream and lunch counter

and upstairs from it was the original KPFA studios

ere we started performing and  

guest hosting in 1982

 

 

 

 

 

 

Arcane clergyman sheparding

a lady on the BART train 

 

 

 

 My new sunset view is like a DeChirico painting

Metaphysical

 

 

 

Another night

Downtown Oakland

to BART train back to Berkeley

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Resurfacing in downtown Berkeley

in a hurry to get to the movies

 

 

 

 

Epic Noir Remake

 

 

 

 

Seats are ultra-comfortable

but the sound and screen size are

not what they are at my usual venue 

Grand Lake Theater

Two hours and twenty minutes later...

 

 

End credits

Pickled Punk close-up

 

 

 

 

 

 

Te oter side of Xmas

a few fugitive souls pass by

and try to evade the cold night

 

 

 

Oakland

 

 

 

 

Noel Noel 

 

 

 

Virgin of Guadalupe

pray for our protection

from the wind and the cold

 

 

 

 

 Another corporate Xmas tree

 

 

 

Piedmont on a clear crisp day

 

 

 

 

Old Oakland as the first drops fell

 

 

 Green leaves turn yellow-orange

one branch bright red

 

 

 

 

A visit to a fictional part of town

 

 

 

 

 

Wintry vision of downtown

 

 

 

 

 I quit the Village to reconnoiter

the Federal buiding

 

 

 

 

Few enter the rotunda today

rain outside stay at home scary times 

are here again

 

 

 

 

Under my umbrella

I feel safe as a turtle

 

 

 

 

 The proverbial Xmas tree substitute

 

 

 

 

 

Te doomsday clock reminds us 

it's nearly two

 

 

 

 

More cops than people

one swaggers past me 

Can't blame them really, this is were two cops were shot

and one was killed when right-wing extremists

tried to discredit the George Floyd protest

with their own savage crimes

 

 

 

 

 

 But we are in far better hands now

 imperfect as they are

 

 

 

 An unforgiving society 

of steel and glass

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Another place you should know

were everything grows

 

 

 

 

 I allow my fancy to take flight with the kites

 

 

 

 And linger in the park until night

 

 

 

 

 

Xmas Presents 

 

And for Xmas buy me a drum

 

 

 

 

Joy at Xmas

 

 

 

Deck all the corridors of your mind

 

 

 

 

 Santa bomb

Yuletide Pomerganate

 

 

 

 

Soviet Xmas card 1983

 trans-mailed from Finland

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

December 2021

 

 

 

 

 A wish to all

for a traditional 

yet quite cool Yule

 

 

Slainte Oakland

Christmas Tree Triage
some midnight miscreant rolled up on a bike

and torched it using a can of accelerant

 

Prologue

 

 

 

I had chanced upon a ceremony of carols

at the magnificent tree Saturday afternoon

A local pilgrimage fondly undertaken by many

every year at Yuletide

On Monday news broke about the arson

It had happened at around one that morning

The Fire Station at the Port is directly across a pedestrian plaza

 from the tree only a very blocks distant

They got there in time to limit the burn scar to

ten or twelve percent of the tree

 according to the news reports

 

So on Wednesday I set out to see the damage myself 

 

 

 Christmas tree in one of the many nondescript buildings

in the vicinity resembling a combination of office work-spaces

and a parking structure

 

 

 

The streets were even more deserted than usual

as a light rain fell 

Now a thing of the past this was formerly an amusing

heavy metal wrestling performance art bar place

Previously noted in this blog for its bizarre posters

After boning up

on a mighty tree-way combo blunt

I approached

the heart of Jack London Square

 

The towering palms vibrated under a low overcast

The gargantuan Flag displayed its subdued moods

Odd job

 

 

Wrapping glow worms in the clouds

 

 

 

 

 

Another crew worked nearby

amputating burned limbs

 

 

 

Brave young hero eschews the crane at hand

to climb the raw tree bareback as it were

 

 

 

Won a tree climbing contest in Hebron, New Hampshire

when I was 17 light lithe and spry

I really enjoyed being up a tree myself 

The burnt branches end up in a bin

In my day the empty cave of space were the fire was 

would have been converted into a Creche

Here and now that would summon a hue and cry

 

 

A strange intersection in American History 

 

 

An alien inscription on a sidewalk nearby

A blue mood

 

 

 

 

A Spot of Cheer

 

 

 

 

 

Blessing of the Saint to You 

(Saint Patrick)

 

 

 A swell of the ocean

all the way from Eire

Looks tempting

 

 

Och and the fireplace is going!

 

 

 

 

I'm going in then 

 

 

 

And it's the James Joyce memorial hearth as well

 

 

 

 

A warm welcome it is too 

 

 

Anything you want we got it right here in the USA

I ordered a real Irish Guinness draft

from the friendly and chatty bar staff 

 

 

Guinness dartboard cupboards?

We got 'em

 

 

 

 

 There's Ronan having the craic

just like in days gone by

 

 

 

I stopped short of the whiskey menu

tantalizing as it is

maybe next time

 

 So glad I happened upon this place today

 

 

 

There's old Uncle Oscar 

sort of a second patron saint 

I can say I have visited Wilde's tomb in Paris

And I did say

 

 

 

The place as charmingly bookish veneer

 

 

Slainte to the whole wide world

Indeed 

 

 

Back out into the microscopic mist

Feeling revivified

 

 

 

 

The sidewalk now looked to me

 more like a Jackson Pollock painting

 

 

 

Came home, not far away

and I had my nap

while visions of sugar plums danced in me head

Epilogue

 

As I set out today the top story in the news was 

that the artificial tree structure at FOX News headquarters in NYC

 had been torched approximately 24 hours after our Jack London tree arson

In a stunning video-taped sequence that one burns to the round

For propaganda and perhaps insurance purposes

Fox claims it was a half-million dollar spectacle

and of course proceeded to blame the "Left" 

So I suppose there is some rough justice in this world

 

 

 

Slainte!

 

 

 

 

 

 

8 December 2021

 

 

 

 

Xmas Junkie

 

 

 

 

 Corporate Xmas Lobby

 

 

 

 

 

 Convention Center

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Outdoors alone at ten

in Oakland

 

 

 

 

 

 

 O facade of joy
O secular stars

 

 

 A secretive little bar

bartender looked lonely and bored

 

 

 

 

30 November 2021

 

 

 

 

 

 

Port of Oakland at Yuletide

 

 

 

 

Autumn draws to a close

 

 Carols around a decorated but not yet lit tree
Sadly someone set it aflame 
early Monday morn

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Old Black Santa

 

 

Frosty

always cool

 

 

Everybody love Xmas

Chicken waffles and syrup is acquired taste

 

At Crooked Cider

widows went moderne

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looters spoilt Xmas

Boards went up at a pot store next door

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ritual matchstick mound

 

 4 December 2021