Sierra Bound (part of a series of SF poems set in the 1920’s)

 

Sierra bound for the summer.

Adieu, my home.

Adieu, my city of lights.

 

To take leave of beggars with crooked alligator teeth on Embarcadero,

Who know that I act like I do not notice them as I pass by-

To say farewell to famished prostitutes with limp cigarettes,

Scurrying around the Tenderloin,

Longing for the money that their broken bodies can provide.

To walk away

From shrouded, damp mornings

And foghorns crying in the night-

To abscond from the haze

Of smokey streets,

Of speakeasys,

Of crowded streetcars,

Of piss-drenched alleys-

 

To think clearly

And lie down in sweet alpine meadows.

 

I am a martyr at the pristine

Altar of my art.

I will be a monk among nature,

Disregarding the fairer race,

Contemplating among her

Trees and rocks,

Not unlike Thoreau,

With his sole

Copy of homer.

 

My home,

My city,

Has grown stale.

All of the women

Have grown tired of me.

 

On lazy Sunday afternoon

I spotted Valencia on Market,

Strolling softly in her white summer dress,

But before we could converse and

                                                            Perhaps

Share a bottle of cheap champagne

She saw me and swiftly ducked

Into O’Hara’s, like a frightened pigeon, far from my reach.

I continued walking, pretending that her poisoned tipped arrows of

Silence could not penetrate my stalwart exterior and infect my

Red blooded American heart.

I needed a drink.

After assaulting my liver with a few rounds of scotch at Wexford’s

 Jordan walked in, with her sea-blue eyes sparkling.

She hung onto Cecil McCormick all evening,

Waltzing and fox-trotting

Away from me,

Spoiling a healthy drunken night,

Puncturing

Healthy fantasies of stumbling home

Lust drunk with her,

As we did two weeks prior.

 

My bed,

Host to so many

Playful Eves,

Is now forced to reckon

Only with me.

The springs

Have ceased

                        To sing-

Sparks that harmlessly

Singed the walls of my room

Have long been extinguished.

 

I am  rotten fruit

Thrown aside into the gutter,

Waiting with saintly patience

For the rodents and insects

To devour me.

 

I am leaving,

Clanking

            And

                        Clomping

Out of this town with

My new boots,

Tanned and stretched,

Oiled and anxious to

Hop creeks and venture deep into Muir’s playground.

I have my leather bound notebook,

Bare as my city-polluted mind,

Begging for rapturous outpourings

That will flow from the jagged peaks of my soul,

Down through the foothills of my mind,

Past the delta of my fertile pen

To the open bay of my notebook.

I will be the river that

The Good Gray Poet

Spoke of, aching

To flood the wretched valley

Of this meaningless world.

 

Untitled

 

Grab it and don’t think

Twice.

It's really alright an' you’d be a damn fool

Not to take it.

Justifications are not needed but,

Well, indeed,

I can explain:

           

                                    It will just be thrown away at the end

                                    Of the night. A complete waste. That

                                    Sort of travesty will not occur on my watch.

 

Bam! You grabbed it, you thieving son-of-a-bitch!

Play it cool, talk with a new friend,

Drink your drink and smile

Because life is good

And you don’t need to squander $10 for

A gin and tonic.

 

Out the door, prancing off into the cab,

Yelling obscenities and blasphemies, belittling the gov’t or something

“Yes, we are heading to North Beach, at Columbus and Broadway.”

 

New scene same story pal.

Walk in, dance for a number, locate the fallen comrade

And engage.

 

You took two more you bastard! You’re practically an artist now.

Your wallet applauds your prowess

And your belly thanks you

For now you can afford some eggs and pancakes

When you wake up in a strange place.

 

 

© Dan Guerra

 

Bio: Dan is 22 years old and is a recent graduate of the University of the Pacific. He loves rock-n-roll, traveling, reading, writing and goofing off with his friends. He spent his summer traveling in Europe and hope to save up some money for another trip soon.