Up the Coast
we came up the coast road
competing with the Pacific’s
white waves
you were learning to drive a stick
and I was learning to teach you
to drive a stick
in the two front seats, we sat beside each other
like two books written by two different authors
but on the same subject
here and there we reference each other
fold footnotes into each other
like sand and blue sea water
you stalled out in the intersection of some costal town
and couldn’t stop laughing
some guy took the time to tell me
my muffler was unattached
and I told him we were taking it one step at a time
and you laughed harder
perhaps we are the same book
but different translations
and we simply need to hear each other out
to discover we mean the same thing
Easy off the clutch, easy off.
No see, you popped it again.
I thought that we might be a book of poems
but I don’t know
clearly we are histories
but I don’t know
sometimes I fear we are fiction
or horror
when you pulled from the intersection
the crowd of people smiled
I saw a man applaud
and you looked at me relieved but happy
and laughing
and the windows were down
so I think every one heard me tell you
that I loved you
