This magic moment

When I left for work yesterday a friend said, “I hope you have some magic in your day with work.” I thought it was serendipitous because I had just written about the desire to have magic in my day and life as part of my morning writing exercise. So, of course, all day long I kept waiting for that magic moment and missed it.

Well, I missed the one I kept looking for, some magic in love, affection, tenderness and intimacy. But I did experience the magic of the outdoors and enjoyed listening to the rain and the birds and cows and other wildlife that frequent the orchards. Being out there, watching, listening and breathing was its own magic.

How beautiful it is

She abused me
for good and bad

and I hurt
her more than she

hurt me.

It’s such an intimate
thing to be taken

like that
to let someone else

have control

until it hurts
so much

you cry out
stop! or harder

please!

until you lose 
your mind

swimming in the pain
thinking how beautiful it is.

Down from the mountain

She comes down
from the mountain state

and enters the tavern
through a flow

of happy salutations

from people she 
doesn’t even know.

She’s plump, juicy, ripe
for something

finds an empty barstool
introduces herself

orders, drinks her beer
warms to her new companion

says she likes to be spanked.

She winks, coaxes, cajoles
works her charms

until finally she says,
Would you like to help

me make a baby? My clock
is ticking. I need a man.

Sure, he says, amused
and warns, I’m quite

a bit older than you. She
sizes him up and says

You’re right. Forget it!
I wouldn’t want to wipe

your ass too. She holds
out her hand, a leveling tool,

lowers it and says, 

That’s how much
you’ve fallen, and moves on.

The tricksters

They run like ghosts
the coyotes
twirling from head
and tail 

turning with the swift fury
of the stirred dust devil

and just as quickly 
stopping
on a small outcropping
with a sharp stillness

to gaze and make
contact, to let 

you know they’ll be
gone in a flash,
just like you, leaving
their markings

in secret places
of the field.

The Longest Shadow

We walked 

onto the Half 

Moon Bay bluff 

to watch the sun

skinny dip

into the Pacific Ocean.

We stood arm in arm 

in awe, 

in love, and

turned to look behind us. 

Our shadows cast 

long and deep 

into the dark orange tunnel 

of trees 

that stretched on and on and on

until we couldn’t stand it 

any longer, the sun

on our backs.

We stretched up

onto our tippy toes

and felt the end,

and laughed all the way

back to our motel room

where we made love, remembering

who we were, where we came from,

where we were going.