Written for a poetry challenge ... it was fun and I ended up .. sort a ... kind a ... happy with it...

Winter
  ~ San José !

Tonight . . .

Winter is cruising First Street,
strutting, zoot-suited down Santa Clara,
unreliable guest at its own seasonal party.
Tonight, El Invierno comes teasing
mediterranean America . . . gazers and gawkers,
kissing their lips and the tips of lazy palms
with ice chips and artic slushies.

Cheeks puffed, he holds the wind,
ready to giggle in bursts of uproarious mirth
round corners, slapping the face of sleek high-rise
gods and goddesses.
Flirting with bare-armed lovers,
elbows latched, hip-to-hip step
gathering speed,
seeking the genius of warm mocha lattes and sushi bars.

Esta noche . . .

Winter contemplates, hovering above Orion,
who sleeps over orange grove and vine.
Seizing the Hunter’s bow; the arrow, feathered fletching spun to ice,
and under neon madness, melting,
flushing the pavement of its exhaustion,
painting petroleum prisms,
reflected in the headlights crawling route 101.

He comes . . .

El Invierno, commanding respect,
slapdash he parades lightening and thunder,
pushing summer dreams
and autumn memory off sidewalks,
beating down on the hoods of Mercedes
and muscle cars with tears of righteousness.

Ah . . . Winter inhales. Hah . . . He exhales.
¿Me recuerdas mis amigos, San José,
San Francisco y Monterey?
Soy el hijo precario de la Tierra de madre
. . . y he vuelto, Petaluma y Los Gatos.
Tonight I will bang at your pretty windows,
tomorrow return to your sandals and sun shades.
All will be forgotten.


.jeanne rené 02.07