Rain storms the city,
liquor
siphons the night crowds from the streets -
ale and ice, lager -
the hotel crouches under rain,
slurred voice and muffled light,
and water puzzles down the paving,
washing the roads where the neon sinks
red, amber, green.
Within,
bulk beer in chorus:
at the bar,
hands busy the city
for the lawful thuggery
of voices and traffic in terminal tumult.

In the cicada's season, down at the Cove, we watched
The long swell which banks the summer berm
In tangles of scintillating mica, cracked shell,
Black seaweed brittle below earth's kikuya swell;
Blue-blazing Pacific and polarized sun.