3/24/24

Battery’s Dead

key turns
cough
nothing
try again
cough
nothing
let’s take the other car
bright side
to look on
we have the other car
my car
we can take and
at least it happened here
at home
not while stopping
on the road
at a restaurant
to eat
and then finding
the car won’t start
and then having
to call the Auto Club
for a jump start
and/or
a new battery
they carry around
to sell
as needed
but only adequate
in quality
not the very best
even if we want it
and could pay
so yes
the bright side
is always there
if you look
for it
and
for now
the rain has stopped
the weather’s clear


Driving not

Can you imagine
what it would be like
if we broke down
in the rain??
after all
and everything
life really
is good
it all works out
somehow


Easter’s coming
those mean people
who color raw eggs

poor kids


another golf course
those rich people
get almost
everything
they want


the satisfaction
of dissatisfaction
is that
you’re never satisfied


had a friend
in high school
went to the same
college
he got rich
stumbling on
an invention
changed his name
to French
now plays golf
drinks martinis
where has my youth gone?


sell the house
but keep the money
in our name
so we can be taxed
like the rich


I always like
looking at the wind machines
as we drive by
even when
they’re not turning
I see a future
when they’re gone
and I’m
still here


how can that be a barn?
it’s little
and squat
and of course
falling apart
but it must
have been
good for
something


Mattress Firm

I should have
taken a picture
of the sign
is it a firm
like a company organization
the Mattress Firm
or the spy group
The Firm
or just a mattress
that’s not soft?
there are
multiple
possibilities
of meaning
everywhere
for
everything


there’s a lone person
on the golf course
looking lost
like the ball
he can’t seem to find
or the life
he used to live


stopping for gas
again at COSTCO
all of California
lining up
at the pumps


getting hungry now
we can stop
at the changeover
wherever
that is


there’s always food
somewhere along the road
to keep us going
like gas in the car


I say
it’s the least I can do
when we both know
it isn’t

higher hire

prices going up
always higher
is that what they mean
the economy
or the labor market
they’re still hiring


we’re approaching the time
when cars have
more efficient
solar panels
on the roof
and hood
so we never
have to stop for gas
and food
we can
drive thru


why are the clouds
dark on the bottom
they say it’s the rain
gathering
I believe it
I can believe anything


It’s a ditto day
the 24th day
of the 24th year
and
an election coming up
another ditto


there’s that big flag again
must come with a house
but all I see
in passing
is the flag
springing from the ground
waving crazy
in the crazy wind


what am I smelling?
is it the car
overheating
or cows
penned up
on the hill?


a master planned community
on the right
Resort Style Living
says the sign
all I see
are roads
new
and
set back
a single house for show
to let us believe
it’s coming soon


and the countryside
it’s pretty right now


there’s a house
I haven’t seen before
must have been driving
too fast
or too slow
to notice


I love seeing
the cows on the hills
they look happy
the way I used to be


there’s a little red house on the right
it’s not
a little red school house
unless it is
home schooling
has destroyed
public education
and we can’t deal with
suffering the loss
of learning

Lottery Announcement

Jackpot $1.9 million/billion
Buy tickets now
Reminds me of the movie
Real Genius
where the recluse guy
math wizard
living in the basement
behind the hidden closet door
wheeled entries
and won a jackpot
big enough
to get the girl
and move away
but I won’t buy
a ticket
because
I can’t do the math


Crows Landing
I see the landing
not the crows


cows again
beautiful on
the beautiful hill
some lying down
this time
like me
like me


solar panels
row on row
for seems like miles
catching sun
facing away
from me


I see I’m writing
much sad
of course I am
loss accumulates
breaks through
and then there’s the world
and the coming election
that could end it all
I’ll try to look
the other way


and over there
the green hills
under the clouds
touched by the sun
they beckon me
I try to beckon back
but they don’t come closer
unless the road
drifts their way
and here they come now
closer
still not close enough
to touch


I welcome the ride
and curse it too
because it lets me think
and makes me think
and you know where that leads
but we keep going
and going
together


How can there be so many cows?
It’s a lotta cows, Dad.
and now orchards
a change of scene


I remember the comment
of a reader
on an earlier blog
of an almost same trip
and he said
That was one helluva trip!
and I say
yes
again.


Every time I try to say
enough for now
and stop
there’s always something
new enough to see
and I can’t just
go to sleep
because
I’ll be driving soon
it’s my turn
with the road


looks like an animal
over on the hill
moving along on the left
at a different speed
not matching ours
and closer now I see
it’s a truck or a motorcycle
something human
nature makes us look
like we belong


and if I fix my gaze
out the window
nature flashes by
I shift my focus
to see where I am is not
where I was


the cars slow down
it’s a freeway
but like they say
nothing’s free
of the agony of truth
the pain of realization


sign says
Rest Area
but there’s a covering
hanging off
so I don’t know
it it’s open
car on the right
edges over in hope
we both see it’s closed
as we both drive on by


the orchard
something growing
fruit or nuts
not ripe or ready
and I’m getting hungrier


and now I’m getting sleepy
just when it’s almost
my turn to drive
life isn’t fair
never said it was


I like it when the trees are shaggy
more natural


I wouldn’t do well
as a tree in an orchard
I never liked being
forced into line


maybe a trip like this
isn’t always good
for me
when I’m not driving
because melancholy
can surface
and so I look for
risible distractions
there’s a sign
Russell Ave.
what’s funny
about that?


and then a sign
that says Food
we’re getting off
and all’s right
with the world


oops! No, passed it
have to wait a little longer
for the next sign of Food
I can wait my own table
I’m a professional
waiter


Bakersfield
Too bad
we’re not going that way
there are
at least
two good
Basque restaurants
maybe next time


car driving
on the right
seen it before
peripheral
leap frogging
as we pass each other
again
and recognize
you can’t have
too many friends


I’m stripping out
punctuation
because
punctuation
sometimes
gets in the way

yes
but
punctuation
lets you know
where you are

oh
the dilemmas of life


I announce
after 47 entries
I’m getting calluses
Kristina leans back
asks
You’re getting cowlesses
as we pass the empty fields
told you
she’s quicker
Proud Papa me
doesn’t bother me at all
to be third
I’ll still take my turn
to drive


Time is running out
for me
I can’t see the hourglass
but I know the sand is falling
why I’m writing so fast


Breadbasket
Crusty farmers


Fifteen miles to food
I’ll try to stay awake
Kristina asks
Will you be awake enough to drive?
She knows me and food.
We’ll see, I say.
Chaz laughs.
We’re getting closer.
I don’t just mean miles
on the road.


At last!
Food!
So that’s why I didn’t have breakfast,
saving for later,
the empty stomach ready.
Memories of past eating records
The Hollenbeck burrito
free if you can eat
in an hour
and the all-you-can-eat ribs
at Twohey’s
where they tried to interpret the offer
as everything on the plate
not just more ribs
but they dutifully brought more
in fewer numbers
on smaller plates
and I finally quit
before they could go out of business
and now
though not quite as capable
being older
still
let’s see
what they have to offer
I’m bringing my stomach
empty