California
In shade of a Norfolk
I will lie down and then wander
Over Needles, down, down
A tremendous dune
And then northwest
To Ventura where grunion
Beached themselves at dusk
Mating and dying in the full moon
Up, up to hills of Ojai
Where three weeks I sold
Premium gas at midnight
And after each shift
Trespassed upon orange groves
Where the morning sun was poisoned fruit
And begged to be tasted
But like the unpicked orange rotting
Weighing on the strongest limb
Again,it was wasted
So on, on to summers in Ukiah
City on the side of a mountain
As dry as a petrified tooth
Where vineyards held grapes
Letting go of them graciously, more tenderly
Then I let go of the dreams of youth
Water and Soap
Upstairs to see my new bedroom
Past my mother washing steps
White buckets at the top and bottom
Upstairs she seems to creep.
Water and soap trickle down her arms
She says her knees are wet
And they’re asleep.
Years pass
Upstairs she is lying
I want to weep
But not yet.
OUR FATES
Used to solder onto green plastic boards
Capacitors, resisters, inducters
Creating small whiffs of smoke that held the scent
Of burnt metal.
In assembly lines we were building
Part of the electronics
Of the fortune teller machine
We saw it put together and marveled
At the prototype put in the break room
As it told our fortunes
Except for some there
Who long ago had already been told
Their fortunes
COPYRIGHT 2005
RICHARD WILSON MOSS
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