For June, in the Year 2001

The world’s quiver and shine
I’d clasp for you forever
jetty vanishing into pearlwhite mist
western sunstruck water-light

Touch food to the lips
let taste never betray you
cinnamon vanilla melting
on apple tart

but what you really craved:
a potency of words
Driving back from Berkeley
880’s brute dystopia

I was at war with words
Later on C-Span: Tallahassee:
words straight to the point:
One person, one vote

No justice, no peace
it could lift you by the hair
it could move you like a wind
it could take you by surprise

as sudden Canada geese
took us by the marina
poised necks and alert
attitudes of pause

Almost home I wanted
you to smell the budding acacias
tangled with eucalyptus
on the road to Santa Cruz