OUT AT THE MISSION VALLEY LIBRARY
in the late afternoon I stood
on the second-story back porch
looking down at the green-line trolley
slipping past like a proud fire truck
glowing that special light
that only happens
for about half and hour before the sun sets
and thought how trains always, always
make my feet and soul itch...
even when I've just come back
from a fantastic adventure
on a mostly tropical island.CONTRADICTIONS

Contradictions abound,
at least enough to make prediction
unlikely to be trustworthy
unless, of course, the forecast
calls for what is not expected,
but that’s not what this writing is about
as much as it is about the fact
that I like the unexpected
more, I suspect, than other men
and confess without apology
that fascination with the possibility
of adventure around the next corner
or in the next hour of my life
keeps my eyebrows raised
and my mind racing.

Why is it, then,
that there is such comfort
in a twenty-year-old shirt
that frays a bit at the collar
and must be mended at the pocket
every four or five years.
This white shirt with blue stripes
bought in Andover, Massachusetts,
isn’t even the kind of shirt I prefer
when it is new and crisp,
but now the soft, gentle material
has become part of the fabric of my life
that, like a good friend,
I hope to keep forever.