Traces
If this were
Japan
and not
Oakland
I would
eat a bowl
of ramen
at our little
oak table
in the kitchen
with a view
of plum blossoms
through the
bay window
then I’d
dust off
my paints
squeeze a blob
of zinc white
onto aluminum
foil
add a speck
of cadmium red
mix them
into a pink
whirl
trace branches
and petals
onto the glass
step back
and watch
how the wind
shivers
the blossoms
up and down
while my
overlapping version
of a plum tree
remains
still
Other Ideas
Today the lake is hammered tin
seagulls battle for mussels
banking in wide arcs
bickering like old men and women
then diving with intent to kill
beneath a burlap tent of clouds
the wind kicks up
and sets this page to flapping
leaving crumbs of unfinished thoughts
scattered in the grass
On Second Thought
sun shines
grass grows
sky holds baskets full of bluebirds
clouds fog and unfog mirrors
rain lets up and drips again
creeks run into opal lakes
lakes exchange wet kisses with the sky
while a tin-pot dictator
wallows on his death bed
muttering his “Rosebud”
wondering if there was something
that he missed.
The Counting
We spray our groceries with rubbing alcohol,
cross the street to skirt a cough or sneeze,
but mostly stay indoors and draw, read,
dig out musty board games, cook,
eat like we may never eat again,
and in the night we peer through reeds
of dreams and picture bodies burning
on a sacred pyre, smoke rising
like an offering to ancient gods
moving beads across an abacus in heaven.
On the Grade
walking through
the early morning
light and shadows
you remember
what your 8th grade
science teacher
taught you about
umbras and penumbras
and you wonder
if it says something
about you
that among all the
arcane forgotten facts
from those
long ago school days
you have remembered this:
there is a dark part
of a shadow
and a less dark part
and then there is
all this light
Scott Waters is a poet and songwriter living in Oakland, California with his wife and son. Scott graduated with an M.A. in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University, and has published previously in Adelaide, Selcouth Station, Ink in Thirds, A New Ulster, Loch Raven Review, Shot Glass Journal, The Pangolin Review, and other journals.