Coast to Coast Blues

Sequoias drum a riff
across the miles
through swaying chants
of cornfields, psalms of snow,

to sea, flat cool-
white sand, jazzed
waves, the syrinx song
of oystercatchers.

Micanopy Palms, oil on canvas
by Mary Bast

Edward Hopper days:
palm trees etched
on turquoise sky, a painting
lonelier than death.

To halt the salty
appetite of blue
I think of
risqué words,

of robin's eggs
and Bessie Smith:
no one to tell
your troubles to.


Published in Silver Birch Press, "Where I Live Poetry & Photography Series," March 2015