Sli Dog's Surf Camp


















I have such fond memories of the time my boys spent in our friend Sli's summer surf camp when they were little. I was running on the beach today and saw Sli pushing kids into waves at Hakama. Overcome with nostalgia, I took a picture.

Aqua Hakama.
Party waves and sand castles.
Adolfo's tacos,
Gina's pizza, and candy
aplenty from Circle K.
Reapply sunscreen,
and repeat.


Open a Vein

"There's nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein."
--Red Smith

Have I mentioned that writing a poem a day is really hard? And when I get stuck, I end up writing about, well, how hard it is to write every day. This is one of those days.

“all you have to do

is sit down at a typewriter

and

open a vein”:

Easier said than done.

Sometimes

I’m afraid of the blood

but sometimes

I can’t even find

the vein.


Senior Citizens, Skateboarders, Beat Poets

Tonight the kids and I attended a special meeting of Laguna Beach’s Parking, Traffic and Circulation Committee. The issue being discussed was skateboarding, and the relationship of skateboarders to drivers. A few (mostly older) residents have complained to city officials lately about the presence of fast-moving skateboarders on their streets, and are calling for a ban on skateboarding on at least some of Laguna’s streets. Unfortunately for their side, the anti-skateboard crusaders came across as crabby senior citizens who don’t want to share the road. I respect their right to weigh in on this issue and understand their concerns about safety, but the idea of making cars king, and banning a fun, healthy activity like skateboarding (in the epicenter of boarding culture, no less) seems crazy to me.

Schuyler read a letter that he and David wrote in opposition to the proposed ban; he did a great job and I was so proud. My guys (all three of them) are smarties.

There were a few local old-timers who spoke in favor of the skateboarders; these are the type of folks who like to weigh in on various topics in City Council meetings, and who usually mention Timothy Leary and Laguna Canyon, and surfboard shapers from back in the day, and use the term “consciousness” a few times. You’ve got to love these guys (they’re usually guys; I don’t know why). At tonight’s meeting, an old hippie got up to speak and started off sounding like all the other old hippies who had just spoken, and my attention drifted a bit. But then he said, “And if we’re going to start banning things, then I’ve got a long list of dangerous things that should be banned,” and he launched into a “Howl”-style rant that was funny and poetic and kind of awesome. I’ve tried to remember some of “the list,” and—voila—a “found” poem:

big oil

big government

agribusiness.

cough syrup

contrails

bovine growth hormone.

distrust

dysfunctional relationships

sexual repression.

the insurance industry

fundamentalism

fascism

fire!

The Kitty in the Palm Tree

















Our scrappy little ocicat, Topanga, was missing when we got home from Europe a few days ago. She tends to roam, but I was starting to get really worried because I hadn't seen her yet.

So I went out to the car this evening and heard some plaintive meowing that was unmistakably Kitty. I walked toward the sound and found her, stuck some 50 feet up, in the top of a palm tree. One of the neighbors came out and said she thought the cat had been up in the tree for three or four days (!), and had been trying to figure out whose it was and what to do. I'm just sick because I can't get a tree service out here tonight to get her down, and apparently the fire department doesn't save cats stuck in trees these days--that's only done in the movies. I can get someone to come out in the morning, but she'll have to spend the night up there. She's mewing pathetically, and I feel awful for her. I'm not even a major cat lover, but I love this particular cat and hate to see any of God's creatures suffer--especially those who reside with me.



Dear God of all creatures,
please watch over Kitty.

May the meager fringe of palm fronds
at the top of that tree
shield her from the dew
and dampness off the ocean.

May her claws and cat-balance
keep her from falling.

May the food and water she last had
days ago
sustain her

until morning.