Palimpsests and Oblivion

(For Peter S., Nini and Pancho L,
Aileen and Paul C.)



Terminal hallway
Echoes at 4 am but 
not from crows calling

Between one time zone
and the next and the next, does
Fate move forward and back

Seals in their rookery 
at low tide Marine layer 
pressed on the trees

Palimpsest of hills
And the body remembers 
other hills elsewhere

We catch up with time
Meeting again under ceilings 
clothed by dreamweavers

Leaves of the laurel 
that we call bay Myth of a 
body changed by the gods

Salt spray in the air—
Maladies named and unnamed
What we seek as cure

Walls of mission white
Scalloped roofs of terracotta
Scrolled ironwork grilles

Bowls of oxtail stew—
A restaurant in a casino 
called Lucky Chances 

Departures and arrivals
Estuaries still lead to the sea 
Monuments of claiming
 
In the museum 
a robot spews glitter in a 
future afterparty