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Balboa

Marion Brown, Poem


#31 Balboa

I roll with the bus.
This west-bound
route amazes me,
a street where no one
peeks out tight-
shuttered eyes.

Headed far as a trip
goes, passengers jerk
along. No one pulls
the cord or waits by
the curb. In the outer
district, tides tug
the streets. Blocks
stretch long.

Delirious, I slide past
pastel faces, wishing
the ride would not
end, even here, where
armored plates collide.

β€œOcean Beach,” flashes
red, end of the line,
the Pacific splashed
on the windshield

and a blaze of sand.

Ripping blinders from
both sides, I see
an endless horizontal
line, azure above,
below, scalloped green.

What I know falls awayβ€”
wild surmise.