Stars and Stripes

Like wet seashells shining in the sunlight

the heat of chorizo on a breezy Sunday morning

the flock and flap of sea gulls calling for a bite

the warm rush of ocean waves slapping at your hips

memories like this we share the ambiance of

that moment deep in love or lust 

but if you met that person today 

if he could remember your last name 10 years later

you could assume he wrote it on a notebook joined with his  

a thousand times

We never question if the sun will rise

dancing in the water like golden confetti

I watch the sprinklers spit and stutter their way around

back and forth without question, without thought

their sole purpose of existing is to water the lawn

full of blanks; but not questions,

that resemble a postpubescent beard; patchy and scraggly

like our memories.

The Robins litter the lawn and I feel an affinity towards

the name sake, pigeons coo like owls with a false foreboding

while everyone is quietly dreaming their morning dreams.

 In the distance an American flag flutters weakly almost as if 

it is also still to dreamy to rise, too sleepy in the mornings song

it swings loosely like a woman's striped skirt or how she moves to 

sway her hips sensually during a wet dream.

A young boy slides by, one foot pushing a skateboard, the other

pushing his all American baseball cap toward undiscovered depths

he spots me watching and smiles sheepishly, he knows he should be in school

he knows she is not wearing a mask. He just moves through life unabashedly

as if ten foot tall and bullet proof. There is nothing to worry him,

no traffic rushing off to work, no teachers to teach him her lessons,

His eyes as wide and wild as a young colts at this impossible idea

of endless summer. He just scoots along to his uncertain but still definite

demise, some day.

I envy him, God forgives the ignorant and the innocent they say.

Like those who pray on the operating table 

to meet again a lost lover in the next life 

instead of praying into the white light to be forgiven in this one,

the defund thoughts of Liberals who do not suffocate 

at the magnitude of criminal disrespect.

Two wrongs never makes it right.

The ignorant and the innocent do not wonder or worry if the world will rise.

Like children it's just an inherent belief that they are entitled to take it

all for granted that the sun will always be there, love will always win

without effort as they scoot on down the lane.

Reviews

[Paul Bell]

What a walk through life, yours and mine and everybody else in between.
That kid on the skateboard, he'll either become president, or a rocker.
Now, do you remember surnames ten years later, and if you do, was it because they made an impression.
Sometimes you're better being ignorant, saves the disappointment of waking up with ambition.
I'm hoping for sun tomorrow and optimistic young lovers.

[Corset]

very few and absolutely because they made an impression, gave something of value good or bad to impact my life, some i'd rather forget, some I hold onto like a kite string. I'm hoping for Rain today and optimistic lovers!

[Paul Bell]

Rainy lovers and optimism, that's a proper impact and will definitely brighten up any dull day.