santa monica

i’m walking a pier

talk about decay

far above the ocean spray

i can still hear the waves

amid the shopping and walking

and endless talking

of this human parade

 

i was born somewhere in this town

decades ago
 

i stop in at rusty’s

and take my first drink slow

 

night invades

the ocean fades

but endless people still parade

a sea of faces above an ocean of tides

and i am here to coincide

 

when my corpse decays

and my molecules dissipate

i often wonder where they go

 

but tonight i’m taking my first drink slow

watching the people come and go

watch them bounce around like electrons

and find no meaning in their motion

 

but enough of these thoughts

time for a double shot

then walk around this pier

without getting caught

with my flask

smile at the vendors who ask

questions i never answer

 

but unanswerable questions

are the only kinds i ask

 

but tonight me and my flask

are going to soak in the sunless night

watch the turning left and turning right

and feel some sense of community

since i am here with this teeming mass

pleasure like pain will pass

but i try to hold it like broken glass

but cuts and blood are the sum of my efforts

 

so anyways i digress

this is an attempt at happiness

like all of my attempts

 

tip my flask

forget to ask

and stare out at the darkness

beyond the pier

hovering over what use to be an ocean

 

***