SUMMER SURF
by Diane Gage
ocean air soft as soggy Saltines
rusty as the bottom note of Old Spice
long sweet slope of asphalt
on a street perfect for skateboards
shrug off marine layer melancholy
and take a safe little newbie ride
past the buzzcut pink-tufted mimosa
whacked flat by a lackadaisical city crew
dip-a-dip-dip your stiff-beaked ball cap
to ladies living happily with cat fur
slide past lawn chairs of domesticated men
who have learned many ways to hide beer
betrayed in the sunset years by spinnaker bellies
preceding them on their daily waddle
summer in San Diego suburban style
Pacific just a couple of freeways away
PHOTOGRAPH: “California Dreamin'” (La Jolla, California) bu Justin Lowery. Prints available at fineartamerica.com.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Diane Gage writes and makes art in San Diego, California. Her work appeared recently in Facing the Change: Personal Encounters with Global Warming (Torrey House Press, 2013). Her poems have also been published in journals such as Chattahoochee Review, Puerto del Sol, Rattapallax, Seattle Review, Hawai’i Review, Poeisis, in anthologies such as Letters to the World, Prayers To Protest, Breathe: 101 Contemporary Odesm and online at Qarrtsiluni and Thanalonline. She was featured and interviewed recently at http://bluevortextpublishers.wordpress.com/interviews/
Silver Birch Press 
Your gift for imagery is a delight to read. I especially like “spinnaker bellies” and “buzzcut pink-tufted mimosa.” I really enjoyed reading your poem.