The admiral of the U.S. fleet
was staring towards the shore.
A mob of people jammed the wharf.
He thought we were at war.
The good Mayor Paulo, of Monterrey
was waving with the rest.
He saw our large Pacific fleet
And, doubtless, was impressed.
The commodore made cannons roar
The impact shook the ground
By miracle no townsfolk died
And not one sailor drowned.
“Perhaps they are saluting us!”
The puzzled mayor said.
But when we put marines ashore
Such thoughts soon left his head.
That day we captured Monterrey
It was quite the feat of arms
We lost just one or two marines
to some Senorita’s charms.
The State Department soon put an end
To the splendid little war
And erstwhile foes departed friends
from the Mexicali shore.

Stunt ****

He can be your lover lady,  ima be your stunt ****. He can be your boyfriend mommy, ima be your stunt ****. He can be your husband ****, ima be your stunt ****, stunt **** fluid swap, yep when them ******* drop. Lights, camera, action ,I’m your stunt ****, stunt ****. Lights camera, action, I’m your stunt ****, stunt ****. Ima be your stunt **** girl and beat it up, yep ima beat it up, that man there can eat it up. We don’t need no scrip for this act or no monolog, you can adlib, improvise on my microphone. We can do the box spring boogie all night long, we can get *****, coz play like its Comic Con. Tag your girlfriend in, we can do a menajahtwa , pile drive that nannie, Macho Man Wrestle Mania. Petting that *****, Doctor Claw, go go gadget pennies, working your equation ,*** notation like a mad genius. If I nut prematurely , don’t you worry I got ******, it’s not superman, but stuntman with all the stamina, Ima beat it up like Van Dam   at the Comitia ,finger, lick and kiss each other while I *******. It’s ocean spray ,whale watching like in Monterrey.

tidal pools in monterrey my boys so young grey cloudy day california california steinbeck monument not far away monterrey bay aquarium we play in the sand and water my two oldest so young

                                                 so young

~

gold-encrusted jewels dance
on sun-drenched ocean stacks,
his rugged rocks etched deep
by her waves from far beneath,
and Pacific’s gusty breath;
his wind-swept islets burn,
aflame in sunset's dying embers,
like a lover's siren call.
his chiseled keyholes waiting
for the ciphered piercing rays
to collide in rushing tidal spray.
unlocking sunset's golden hour...
surging forth then quickly fades,
as sunbeam fingers slowly slip,
beneath horizon's sultry lip;
dusk unfolds in magic hues,
molten rose turns scarlet blues,
night descends as one by one,
we raptured star-kissed lovers
disembark this ferris wheel;
the curtain falls again,
with sea and rocks
rehearsing lines
to play again another day.
this their theatre
of the night,
performed by two alone,
beneath the moon
and starry sky.

~

*post script.

our last time through in 2004 was a blur on our way through to San Diego, an exhilarating ride for certain, with all of its bends and curves experienced top down in a convertible, but hardly doing justice to Big Sur’s stunning scene in mere hours; we told ourselves we simply had to return.  

it took eleven years, and this time we spent a full five days and nights along Highway 1, towing a camper and slow-driving south from Monterrey all the curves to Morro Bay, exploring just about every hike and lookout in between; and in so doing, validating our return in a most satisfying way.  Big Sur is officially off our bucket list!  her sunsets were particularly rewarding, especially two... one enjoyed at sea level, from the sand and keyholes at Pfeiffer Beach day use area, the other delighted us from high above the ocean waves, seated at the picnic table of our cliff-side camp site at Kirk Creek Campground.

a most refreshing time to recuperate and recharge our spirits; five glorious days of disconnection, reconnecting to nature, each other and best of all, life at the speed of sunsets and star gazing; evenings spent round the campfire with no cell, no i-pad, no laptop, only the light of the fire, the stars and that sparkle in each other's eyes!

For Veterans day


Will briefly pay honor to yesterday’s heroes it is good to think about our boys I think this will help first to a place that was home for
Eight months Fritichie air field over in back of fort Ord by Monterrey it was small but it had about three giant hangers and some of the
Guys had those roadsters the long one’s that they use parachutes to stop them they tested them on the tarmac then the Walters
crash truck this behemoth carried a driver and six man crew the tires were six foot high it had a water cannon on top swiveled three
Hundred and sixty degrees a four inch nozzle that shot water and with the flip of a switch a mixture of foam two hundred feet
And you would empty fifteen hundred gallons of water in fifty nine seconds but we turned it into a snow maker you had this back
Drop of California climate palm by the fire house fanned palms in the yard but we pulled up in front at the side and cut loose starting at
the farthest point in front of the wall that housed our sleeping quarters mixed with foam we laid foam four feet deep all the way out to
The tarmac there you go white Christmas it didn’t last long in the sun and heat but for a little while we had Christmas it was cool.

Our first hero was a returned medic from Nam this was after I was transferred to Hunter Liggett we were in the barracks he had his
Shirt off what I saw told the story four nasty bullet holes and the skin grafts it took to close them one who runs out in a fire fight
To tend the wounded and hears just kids crying out mama as they are dying the cong didn’t honor this medical angel of mercy just kept
Shooting him he was the same but he wasn’t he was damaged goods he had a quietness a sadness you couldn’t reach the real person
He used to be, he is part of the wounded brother hood I never suffered as the day now out of the service and back out in California I
Read a piece about a homeless vet living in Golden Gate Park next To Height Ashbury it cut me deeplyit was hard to get it out of my mind he couldn’t hold a job depended on family then the cold streets of Frisco and I knew the other hundreds hiding in Washington state in the forest their children with
Them I knew this because of the stories of how and what their children did to them if they this innocently walked up behind them and
Said daddy. This will give you a deeper knowledge of how long and deep this haunts all of our heroes after getting out of the service I
Stayed in Monterey worked in the church and worked as a painters apprentice in the painters union a painter was at the Presidio right
Above fisherman’s Warf this facility has many functions but one in particular is the study of linguistics so this naturally had many
Nationalities coming and going in this story Japanese was the problem one painter I guess bored walked up behind an older painter
Poked him in the back with his finger the older man whirled around with a four inch brush the metal part took half the guys front teeth
Out afterwards the old man apologized profusely he gave this even more scary account he told the man all day I have been back
In world war two fighting **** this is now nineteen sixty nine the older man said you are lucky you didn’t come up behind me two
Minutes before I was scraping with a six inch putty knife I would have cut your throat the man lost teeth he could have lost his life. This fighting for our freedom Doesn’t magically stop when they come home from battle fields please honor them and again the greatest warrior whose birth we
celebrate this month extol him and know we can never know how he suffered our hearts are not that big but he defeated
out mortal enemy we owe him our lives. Christ our great captain

Military times
Will briefly pay honor to yesterday’s heroes it is good to think about our boys I think this will help first to a place that was home for
Eight months Fritichie air field over in back of fort Ord by Monterrey it was small but it had about three giant hangers and some of the
Guys had those roadsters the long one’s that they use parachutes to stop them they tested them on the tarmac then the Walters
crash truck this behemoth carried a driver and six man crew the tires were six foot high it had a water cannon on top swiveled three
Hundred and sixty degrees a four inch nozzle that shot water and with the flip of a switch a mixture of foam two hundred feet
And you would empty fifteen hundred gallons of water in fifty nine seconds but we turned it into a snow maker you had this back
Drop of California climate palm by the fire house fanned palms in the yard but we pulled up in front at the side and cut loose starting at
the farthest point in front of the wall that housed our sleeping quarters mixed with foam we laid foam four feet deep all the way out to
The tarmac there you go white Christmas it didn’t last long in the sun and heat but for a little while we had Christmas it was cool.

Our first hero was a returned medic from Nam this was after I was transferred to Hunter Liggett we were in the barracks he had his
Shirt off what I saw told the story four nasty bullet holes and the skin grafts it took to close them one who runs out in a fire fight
To tend the wounded and hears just kids crying out mama as they are dying the cong didn’t honor this medical angel of mercy just kept
Shooting him he was the same but he wasn’t he was damaged goods he had a quietness a sadness you couldn’t reach the real person
He used to be, he is part of the wounded brother hood I never suffered as the day now out of the service and back out in California I
Read a piece about a homeless vet living in Golden Gate Park next To Height Ashbury it cut me deeplyit was hard to get it out of my mind he couldn’t hold a job depended on family then the cold streets of Frisco and I knew the other hundreds hiding in Washington state in the forest their children with
Them I knew this because of the stories of how and what their children did to them if they this innocently walked up behind them and
Said daddy. This will give you a deeper knowledge of how long and deep this haunts all of our heroes after getting out of the service I
Stayed in Monterey worked in the church and worked as a painters apprentice in the painters union a painter was at the Presidio right
Above fisherman’s Warf this facility has many functions but one in particular is the study of linguistics so this naturally had many
Nationalities coming and going in this story Japanese was the problem one painter I guess bored walked up behind an older painter
Poked him in the back with his finger the older man whirled around with a four inch brush the metal part took half the guys front teeth
Out afterwards the old man apologized profusely he gave this even more scary account he told the man all day I have been back
In world war two fighting **** this is now nineteen sixty nine the older man said you are lucky you didn’t come up behind me two
Minutes before I was scraping with a six inch putty knife I would have cut your throat the man lost teeth he could have lost his life. This fighting for our freedom Doesn’t magically stop when they come home from battle fields please honor them and again the greatest warrior whose birth we
celebrate this month extol him and know we can never know how he suffered our hearts are not that big but he defeated
out mortal enemy we owe him our lives.

For Veterans day

Milatary fire Milatary times



Will briefly pay honor to yesterday’s heroes it is good to think about our boys I think this will help first to a place that was home for
Eight months Fritichie air field over in back of fort Ord by Monterrey it was small but it had about three giant hangers and some of the
Guys had those roadsters the long one’s that they use parachutes to stop them they tested them on the tarmac then the Walters
crash truck this behemoth carried a driver and six man crew the tires were six foot high it had a water cannon on top swiveled three
Hundred and sixty degrees a four inch nozzle that shot water and with the flip of a switch a mixture of foam two hundred feet
And you would empty fifteen hundred gallons of water in fifty nine seconds but we turned it into a snow maker you had this back
Drop of California climate palm by the fire house fanned palms in the yard but we pulled up in front at the side and cut loose starting at
the farthest point in front of the wall that housed our sleeping quarters mixed with foam we laid foam four feet deep all the way out to
The tarmac there you go white Christmas it didn’t last long in the sun and heat but for a little while we had Christmas it was cool.

Our first hero was a returned medic from Nam this was after I was transferred to Hunter Liggett we were in the barracks he had his
Shirt off what I saw told the story four nasty bullet holes and the skin grafts it took to close them one who runs out in a fire fight
To tend the wounded and hears just kids crying out mama as they are dying the cong didn’t honor this medical angel of mercy just kept
Shooting him he was the same but he wasn’t he was damaged goods he had a quietness a sadness you couldn’t reach the real person
He used to be, he is part of the wounded brother hood I never suffered as the day now out of the service and back out in California I
Read a piece about a homeless vet living in Golden Gate Park next To Height Ashbury it cut me deeplyit was hard to get it out of my mind he couldn’t hold a job depended on family then the cold streets of Frisco and I knew the other hundreds hiding in Washington state in the forest their children with
Them I knew this because of the stories of how and what their children did to them if they this innocently walked up behind them and
Said daddy. This will give you a deeper knowledge of how long and deep this haunts all of our heroes after getting out of the service I
Stayed in Monterey worked in the church and worked as a painters apprentice in the painters union a painter was at the Presidio right
Above fisherman’s Warf this facility has many functions but one in particular is the study of linguistics so this naturally had many
Nationalities coming and going in this story Japanese was the problem one painter I guess bored walked up behind an older painter
Poked him in the back with his finger the older man whirled around with a four inch brush the metal part took half the guys front teeth
Out afterwards the old man apologized profusely he gave this even more scary account he told the man all day I have been back
In world war two fighting **** this is now nineteen sixty nine the older man said you are lucky you didn’t come up behind me two
Minutes before I was scraping with a six inch putty knife I would have cut your throat the man lost teeth he could have lost his life. This fighting for our freedom Doesn’t magically stop when they come home from battle fields please honor them and again the greatest warrior whose birth we
celebrate this month extol him and know we can never know how he suffered our hearts are not that big but he defeated
out mortal enemy we owe him our lives. Christ our great captain

Oscar the Octopus lived in a tank
at the centre of Monterrey.
He drew in the crowds with legs suckered proud
as they pressed the glass open mouthed.
He took back his legs when he heard them scream and bowed to rapturous applause.
He reigned supreme but they hadn't yet seen
Medusa's glowing legs next door.

One Thursday in June Oscar changed his tune
As he heard a sound from above.
He took off his crown when he saw floating down
A beautiful gay sea horse.

With eye lashes long and singing a song
From the trumpet that was his nose.
The lyrics he heard sounded absurd
About the joy of having curled tails.

He danced for his guests as Oscar digest
they came to see a new show.
A man who gives birth is surely well worth
A pause to watch them being squeezed out.

Oscar was seen by a few in between
the eyes that easily marvel.
When they tapped on the glass he fell on his ***
As he tried to curl all his tails.

Oscar the Octopus lived in a tank
At the centre of Monterrey.
When the crowds didn't come his stage time was done
And they served him to staff on a plate.

We met
One night in Monterrey
Drove miles to see each other
I haven't forgotten
Do you remember me, My name?
The things we did
You still in Austin?
I'm here
I'd like to see you
I'm still single

I feel always near the end
Next to an Abyss

I have so few friends
And in times such as this

Fatherhood is my greatest joy
The fear, the fear it gnaws

Tidal pools in Monterrey
The ocean, but not the Jaws

                  Protection!

If you ever saw my grandfather, you’d definitely see him wearing his green jacket and gray knitted cap with green stripes. Even during the summer, and especially the hot ones in Monterrey, my grandfather would stick to these items and roam around, fresher than ever, under the fervent rays of the sun. When we went to the beach he would cross the lobby and reach the shore with his swimsuit under his several layers of clothing, including the jacket and beanie. Ironically, he loved swimming, and would get into a pool even if it felt like freezing. As soon as he removed his jacket and knitted cap he would immediately go to the water and right after he was done he would go and change back into his warm garments, not a single second in between without his jacket and beanie’s protection. Sometimes, the family gathered in exterior living rooms during the summer to hang out and swim in the pool. As we talked to each other, he would eventually, sneakily, get out of his chair, adjusting his beanie, walk towards the electricity switch and turn off the fan hoping we wouldn’t notice because he was cold and knew none of us were going to turn them off if he asked us. Because he wore these items all the time, they became a part of him, and they were present in all of his events. A knitted cap and a jacket turned into collectors of memories, events and knowledge. With his passion for reading, especially encyclopaedias, the knowledge seemed to transfer all the way to his beanie, maintaining and remembering all the mesmerizing details he learned day by day. This jacket and knitted cap were able to contemplate Mexican beaches, rest in a cruise in the Bahamas, visit many museums in Europe, hop into a hot air ballon in Istanbul and even ride camels while enjoying the views of Egypt. After years of accumulating all of these experiences, my mother did try to give him a new jacket as a Christmas present, and even though he was grateful for it, his well-known green jacket was irreplaceable. I will never understand why he was always cold, but his cap, knitted with love by my grandmother years before, seemed more than just a heat source for him, as if the beanie would boost him with confidence and protect him everywhere he went.

Never worked with women
But hey now! that's alright
1 is the loneliest number
This world is Fright on Fright

Teaching is a difficult job
Especially in the USA
If she knocked on my door tonight
We might drive to Santa Fe

Dante saw Beatrice twice
I guess I don't really pray
Please protect my sons, O Life!
From cannonballs on the 5th of May

                    Monterrey!

Wanhope tonight
American despair

I hope my children happy
Highwater Everywhere

Mortality is madness
Might be huntin' bear

I love being a father
Books and love to share

            Silent Prayer.

Steinbeck memorial
    marine biology
         tidal pools

perhaps it always feels this way
your country lost as you grow older

but now the wind blows cold
American hearts grown icy colder

Gerard Manley Hopkins
first poet I remembered

snowstorm in Seattle
I walk solo deep Decembered

I write now on the toilet
as good a place as any

america is lost
But I still have my lucky penny

                    Lincoln!

Un Escritor, Un Escritor
Richard in Mexico City
Me in Gamla Stan
Where the women are so pretty

Marguerite Porete
Definitely not a fake
Maybe she will let ...
Nothin' but love to make

Un Escritor, Un Escritor
Jeovanni from Honduras
David from El Salvador
Green lights still allure us

Mandy is my bartender
Dino plays Brandy
European licorice
Carmel. Monterrey. Gandhi.

                    Mohandas!

Chips and salsa and queso
             Hasta luego!
                   gracias

Dia says,
Kick rocks
so,
f'y'all.

and Isaac,
complains
nada
solo
as
usual.

(still I like who he follows)

people
living off
other people
is a another version
of
send in the clowns.  

please don't get me wrong.

I stand on the shoulders of
Tijuana,
Monterrey
and
Coatlicue

hey
at least Coatl'
will
tell you
like
it
was.

the rest?
don't even bother

Here in the Darkness
I remember times gone by

Tidal pools in Monterrey
To Bangkok we did fly

My sons at play upon the beach
Sunlight in our eyes

The discovery of Socrates
The wisdom of the Gandalf the Wise

We're doomed. Life is cruel Catastrophe.
But still we have to tries.

california snow and tidal pools in monterrey fog on the golden gate bridge driving south at night toward L.A. me and mark and jerrod and ernest playing basketball in the 80s richard rodriguez writing in san francisco cornel west running in sacramento and heather october wind and water weather

                                                 the past slips ...

Decades of religious searching
But it just did not quite take
Still San Francisco Zen
Lady of the Lake

I like the way French sounds
I've been to New Orleans
Florida is Ignorance
Rothko blues and greens

Democracy is demagogues
Turn off your huge tv
Tidal pools in Monterrey
And a quiet library

                  8773

The sky fades to orange
I call to California
Mr. David Markson
Can't say he didn't warn ya

The early days of Venice
Good place to hide
Tidal pools in Monterrey
Memories elide

Mircea Eliade
In Chicago with the Fire
Denver, Colorado
Rocky Mountain Higher

Grateful for my dad
Quiet in my room
Dread Annihilation
Coming American Doom

              Ka Boom!

i havent lived in California in many years but my youngest son was born there tidal pools in Monterrey when my boys were so little John Steinbeck memorial Monterrey Bay Aquarium and i'm kinda hung up on the San Francisco Zen Center I drove there once from Seattle and sat in meditation silence bowed to the Buddha statue the buddhists sometimes say the Buddha was not a god he was just a human being who reached enlightenment if he could do it you can too

                                                 3772

Max from Heidelberg and I
Are on the basketball court
Talkin' bout Kierkegaard
Talkin' bout Highway 61

I like UNC
Amber in the post office
The Gift right outside
Pettigrew Hall

Never gave a lecture
Never wrote a book
No Witherell Conjecture
Did not **** Vietnamese *****

Monterrey, California
My boys very young
Hats, tidal pools
Gratitude

                     Among

My Mexican friends today
His eyes blue, My eyes verde
My mother's brown, his cafe
Guanajuato y Monterrey

               Quetzalcoatl!

I'm not a theologian
Don't wanna be a party of one
Those tidal pools in Monterrey!
My beautiful young sons

Life is a tragedy
Black smoke, big blue sky
Romeo and Juliet
To love, too extreme, to die

Staunton aglow in snow
81 South
I launch the car into the night
Wondrous strange in my mouth

                  The Tempest!

Only one life
Mostly disappointment and pain
Amos 3:6
Mexico y Spain

America the Shallow
Cathars once in France
Simone Weil in Spain
Arthur. Guinevere. Lance.

Tidal pools in Monterrey
My children still so young!
Thank you, Dr. Thomas
Delicious Din Tai Fung

My son with me tonight
Let him sleep in peace
Sybil in Toledo
Sybils in Ancient Greece

             Synchronicity:
         Sting and the Police.

I like the little poems
Patiently I wait
Despite, despite everything
Peace at last for Cate

Tidal pools in Monterrey
My sons still so young
Trepidation
Pero young sons sung

                 Among ...

Fog on the Golden Gate Bridge
Tidal pools in Monterrey
My boys still so young
xie xie xie xie xie xie

Fog on the Golden Gate Bridge
My life flies on by
My mom in Sacramento
Me and Scott and Ry

Don't like Jean Paul Sartre
Do like Albert Camus
Paris on my honeymoon
Sacre Coeur to view

Basketball at night
Please protect my dad
Please energy to persist
The Green Knight, Galahad

                  Castles!

The beach in Monterrey
My sons still so small
If I die at Night
The Darkness

Tidal pools
Hermit *****
Sand dunes
Markness

            California!

I read some theology
Even when I don't believe in God
Astrobiology?
Yo soy solo Todd

Cistercian is a cool word
So is exomoons
In her hair a Scarlet Ribbon
In our kitchen Flaming June

I'm watching War of the Worlds
Got my mind on my friend Mark
Seattle goes grey green
Sacramento sparks

Poetry to provoke
Evoke and wend like water
Colorado Rockies
Silently I sought her

Denver to San Francisco
San Francisco to Monterrey
Carolina Inn
The Fire with which we play

                my my xie xie

Monterrey grey
    tidal pools
            2

Young in California
Sun, fog, snow
Tidal pools in Monterrey
Round and round we go

Silence. Only Silence.
San Francisco Zen
Movies, meditation
3710

She holds me in the harbor
We sleep perchance to dream
Toledo, not Ann Arbor
Rabbi Nahman's silent scream

Do I die in Bangkok?
Do I die in secret Spain?
Fox Theater in Detroit
Snow. Night Train Lane.

             yo espero ...

Monterrey Bay
    tidal pools
       Calyx

The short drive to the cemetery
Remembered by very few
At my best, at my best
The best that I could do

My sins die with me
And my proclivities
Charleston at night
Wind in willow trees

Monterrey with my children
Tidal pools on the beach
Once I was a teacher
But now I have nothing to teach

Vienna in the snow
San Francisco Zen
Reno far below
3710

        I die and disappear
                 But when?

Paul Wolfowitz, war criminal
Donald Rumsfeld the same
University of Chicago
Up in Smoke, Up in Flames

Can't quite forget those tide pools
Empty beach in Monterrey
Lebanese bread in Jerusalem
San Francisco Bay

America the Land of Genocide
In DC Marvin Gaye
Won ton soup
Gunmetal gray

      Endless Night Ending Day.