Meta California Dreaming

by Betsy Mars

 
Walking by the beach watching
a guy about my age
leatherbacked and tan
with salt-stiffened hair –
maybe Duke or Ken –
 
riding at the beach on his beach cruiser
listening to the Boys of Summer by the Eagles,
 
wondering if he knows
he's a stereotype, maybe
that's his intention – does anyone else notice,
or are they too busy watching
 
the volleyball players in their skimpy clothes,
the un-selfconscious
guy dancing down the path, invisible
earbuds blasting his silent soundtrack,
 
the seagulls spinning overhead,
pelicans plummeting for a snack.
 
It's only April and we're still masked.
What will come when summer comes
I wonder, walking in solitude, tuned
to the changing mood, unobserved –
 
another older woman, unattended hair
gone gray this careless year –
monitoring my pedometer, the time,
another season slipping away.


* * * * *

Betsy Mars practices poetry, photography, pet maintenance, and publishes an occasional anthology through Kingly Street Press which she founded in 2019. Her poetry has recently appeared in One Art, MacQueen’s Quinterly, Sheila-Na-Gig, and Autumn Sky, as well as numerous anthologies and journals. She is a Best of the Net nominee and her photos have been featured in various journals including RATTLE and Spank the Carp. Betsy is the author of Alinea (Picture Show Press) and co-author of In the Muddle of the Night with Alan Walowitz (Arroyo Seco Press).