All Along the Maricopa Highway – by Charlie Macias

 -When was the last time you had to crawl through the back of your car to get something? It’s tough because there’s a lot of junk in there, right? Who knows what you’ll scrape up against! When you lock in your keys on a dark night you get a desperate feeling. Good thing the trunk was open.

-The emu with yellow eyes just stared at me from its pen on the side of the road.

-The friendly dog was not named David Bowie. Its owner seemed shy. When asked about the weather she said, “Pretty hot!”  Anyways, she slipped and joked that the dog was checking me out.

-At night be careful when you come upon the clearing. Watch out for the ruts under the moonlight.  You don’t want to misstep, fall and dirty that clown outfit of yours. Yes, that rooster crows all the time.

- The coyote was a jackal

The horse a moose

Just thinking aloud

Thinking like Seuss

Rabbits that fly

Condors that screech

Out in the wild

Not Mulberry Street

-Looking for that blue mask. Do you see the blue mask? Where’s that blue mask? Is it emerging from the oaks? Is it coming up the hill? I like your funky hat. I like your patterned coat, Oh, that’s you wearing the blue mask. I kinda like it, too.

Acceptance – by Charlie Macias

 

It happened by chance anyways. Now it had to end. I think it came upon a dream. Now back to normalcy after the unforeseen disruption. Calm and life anew – one can only hope.

Forces came down upon us. Battles were fought and – mostly – won. New challenges came almost every day.

Some of the new consequences from all  the bustle actually brought a strange, renewed beauty -some of the best stuff we hadn’t seen in a while. It became normal, expected.

But it could all be taken away in an instant.

You had to adapt, be quick on your feet. If you didn’t you’d just kind of linger. No rhyme or reason to how, why and when things would happen or change.

“How long will it be taken away for?” “What will replace it?”

Ever wake up from a bad dream, but the bad dream keeps happening?

Looking For A Little Help - by Charlie Macias

You cannot find anyone in this fog
Just when you get some momentum going...
C'mon! Put out your thumb, hitch a ride!
Let's go already!
Throw on that new Bob Dylan and let's figure it out

Pop, pop, pop!!!
Just like 4th of July
She'll turn up spectacularly and dazzle!
Que no?
Claro que si

3-4U2C - by Charles Macias

1.      First of all, the message was late. This kind of thing really pissed her off. So, it was off to the track to work off some steam. A little exercise would bring her back to a calm level.

At the track she came upon a male jogger slogging his way round and round. He was sweaty and smarmy, but he certainly was in good shape.  She tried not to stare at him. The fact that she was wearing her dark sunglasses helped with her subterfuge.

She started walking the outer lanes, just warming up. He passed her by and looked back, “You’re not just gonna walk, are you?” He joked, “C’mon! Pick up the pace!”

She smiled and ran to join him in a jog around the track. She challenged him to a sprint for the last 60 yards. He smiled and they were off!

She won. Maybe he let her win.

“Not bad for a girl wearing sunglasses,” she teased.

“And what’s behind those glasses? Let me see your eyes.”

She laughed, “Oh no. Just take my word for i. They’re violet….just like Liz Taylor!”

2.  She woke up violently. She looked at the clock: 3 AM. She was panting. It was a bad dream: An operating room, a surgeon looking over her. He placed the oxygen mask over nose. She went out. Kind of.

She could hear the surgical team talk. She heard the surgeon, “You’ll feel a little prick in your eyeball. Nothing’s wrong. This is all part of the procedure.”

It felt like he was sticking a fine needle into her eye. Then he pivoted the needle like a joystick jostling the eyeball back and forth. Sometimes soothing water would pour over the eye. Her upper body shook and he told her to try to stay still. She “saw” a kaleidoscope of colors, then darkness, then the most beautiful blue sky with puffy white clouds floating by. More soothing water.

And then, “Ok, all done. Wheel her out!”

3.     Sometimes words just look funny, don’t you think? I mean they’re really just random markings that are assigned certain sounds.

Loo k at “LOOK.”  A partial triangle, two ovals and a straight line with another partial triangle. Write it down,  ogle it. “LOOK” could be two eyeballs just staring back at you. Ha, write down “OGLE” and take a look at that one!

LOOK     LOOT   LUTE   CUTE

At least I’m used to reading these funny looking symbols.

 Slows me down now. Thanks.

Sad Ocean Days – by Charlie Macias

Can I just ride around in my car?! Stay in a bubble and drive around, check out inventive face masks, the homeless almost the only ones on the street, remember the eats out there, smile and wave to kind folks, say hi to the seagulls, check out the Friendship Bell behind locked gates, people walking six feet apart, get up early, get in line for paper products, write the worst poetry ever written  in mankind’s history, stay warm under the covers and dream of brighter days, got some ginger ale in the house.

But the dolphins in the harbor cackle good tidings. The sea lions bark “who cares - just feed me.” The pelicans wonder where all the humans are. That Bridge welcomes fewer ships. Will those feral cats and raccoons at the wharf die off? Still seeing cuties of all kinds walking and biking, wearing their tights, shorts and athletic sneakers.