Sonnet: Sunset of Old Sun

Admit you might have done much more with your day:
sought out that beauty bringing her to wive
along the linear line of progress strive
and clang the bell of success, thereaft array
in splendor time's remainder to convey
an echo memory of thrilling life
recall that vibrates but cannot revive
a dormant spirit old passions would betray.
So dip a foot in the water's edge and think
of days, horizons, drowning or just breathe
the air of regret, you alone until
aware that others on the shoreline spill
unhappy thoughts in hope of cosmic ease
awaiting sunset of old sun to blink.

Sonnet: Rent Control Cage

That lo! a landlord letter these walls shake
the flimsy wood the rent control cage
where in a blink the generations age
then pressure antecedent lives unmake
the piled sand upon the joy and ache
a blend judged right accorded retro sage
insight that hardly shields against the rage
the roiling real estate the money quake
as upstairs in the vacancy current
of air or footprint of a cat or ghost
the shadow doubt of who or what to come
whose onset would evoke relieved welcome
though minutes creak for those affected most
the one who sent the one awaiting rent

Sonnet: Jane Warner Plaza

Jane Warner Plaza glittered in the sun
at Market-Castro where the concrete cove's
red metal tables beckon those on the run
to stop, sit, admire that urban trove
and eat a sandwich, sip some coffee, light
another joint, or bare one, then observe
the passersby who gawk, express delight
as F-line cars rumble round the curve,
but then the city renovated the joy
a meeting spot reclaimed as thoroughfare
a skateboarder's dream absent a chair
nowhere to linger for a girl or boy.
They killed it, said a local in disgust
as litter's lifted high on a foggy gust.

June 2015