States Street

From Castro
to the staircase
terminating States Street
I walked through night fog.

Hard climb uphill.
On the way I picked
a sprig of rosemary,
ate it, and invoked memory.

Moving Aric's Planter

One of the yellow
pansies is beheaded
by a baluster.

I reflect with sorrow:
men who were so radiant
now rest; flowers cover them.

Bottlebrush

Buckled pavement
_____ruptured by roots --
callistemon:
_____red cilia, dark
foliage.

_____It's branches beckon,
saying, "Look up!"

What a prankster,

to grow unnoticed for years
just for the chance
to trip a complacent man.

Tenderloin #5

Startled by the hard sun,
he blinks.  He walks
half a block to the corner store.

There is beauty in the lore
these streets speak --
the scummy sidewalks

littered with shit
and detritus remind us
of men who before us stalked them

on their way to gigs
at the Blackhawk;
they hired fast girls

whose legs would unfurl
for cheap gold
and priceless laughs.

He walks half a block
to the corner store
pinned to his path by the traffic's roar.