Santa Barbara

SANTA BARBARA POEM

And I remember Santa Barbara

sunsets of gold and purple

The Pacific in the distance with its mystery,

warmth, and life and waves that came and went,

sitting on a wall looking out from Butterfly Beach

counting dolphins at six in the morning,

counting dreams and words I’d not yet discovered,

where are those years now?

they live in journals marked for other eyes

there the Santa Inez mountains rise in the distance

as we gather round the barbecue grill in the front porch

university friends living out months before far off journeys

drinking beers and laughing

talking of Radiohead, Granddaddy, and Thomas Merton,

dancing the afternoons and evenings away, sounds of chatter,

ping-pong tourneys, and guitars playing,

morning coffee with cigarettes

when we smoked,

daydreaming of love before heartbreaks and endings

writing out lines to unfinished poems,

thinking of sands and surf,

watching the new day come,

as the cigarette smoke twirled round the front porch lights

and birds singing kept us in the present.