Rain in Carlmont

Even in the burbs,     where all nature
is trimmed and     suspiciously tidy,
(well, except my yard,     wild and weedy)
even in the     Carlmont strip-mall
parking lot, pavement     and planter boxes,
the smell of a     first rain is sweet.

The Thing

It's cold, if not     Antarctically
on 16th St     this December,
but Roxie popcorn's     a remedy for that,
and a full house     of humans.
                                But Horror!
This is no 5     Nights at Freddy's,
this movie's disturbed     and disturbing--but staring
into the abyss     my kid is bouncing!
Tooth and tentacle     and terribly recycled
doggish design--     and doom from beyond.
Gimme a flamethrower.     Oh ghoulish joy!

Quatrain

A 3DS, a lazy-boy, and you,
my lazy cats, one and two.
A mug of wine'll suit tunes on vinyl...
Paradise? Who knows! But Hyrule will do.

Calling in from CalTrain

Boring-ass boss     --well, boss's boss's--
he does go on,     and that accent. Ugh!
Set on the seat     beside me, my phone's
on speaker but muted.     I'd love to mime
"blah blah blah",     flapping duck-bill fingers
to anyone, but this car's empty--     bad A/C.
It's for the best,     nobody to bug.
I'll sweat--and escape     to the realm of Hyrule.
Nintendo     take me away!

Pedro Point--Pacifica Summer

No Farallons today, in fog
you go up, pine to disappearing pine
(scraggly, and mossy more than needled)
'til at last the trail levels out, and
surely this is it: The End of the World,
a knife-ridge path to a little peak
mist-blown and mystery-beconing;
so try that narrow teetery track--
But it's not the last, there's another and another,
out over the invisible ocean
(just a jade sliver of waves, way way down).

Biking to Cañada

Grim was the grade, but The Grove's up there
with promise of pastry and coffee.
And fool's defiance was fairly repaid--
of inclement sky, no showers but clouds
ridge-creeping from the coastside (a soggy
day no doubt in Pescadero)
heavy-laden and drippy-leaking...
But Iris spread her arc: the full spectrum
of visible light, red to violet,
crowning the hilltop community college.

Perhaps Should have Taken a Local

Baby Bullet, City-bound--
I'm perked up with Peet's. Phone's in my pocket--
I'm deaf to the siren song of social
media, even well-meaning Mastodon--
I've got the kids' discarded 3DS
and three fare-zone's worth of Zelda time!