Tag: city life

Spare The Air

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Spare The Air

It’s lunch hour in San Francisco on a foggy day. The sun tries to shed some light on the subject burning through the layers of car exhaust and jet streams from the nearby airport. The rush hour is in full force as drivers slowly move in lines like ants on the various freeways trying to free themselves of their cars. The local news station warns residents that it’s a Spare The Air Day.

Seated on a park bench near the bay munching on a sandwich the view is amazing. The yellow, orange and crimson streaks of color in the sky are beautiful. The sun is weaving in and out of the cloud layer making the afternoon light look magical. Without some pollution, the colors would never be quite like that. I am reminded of how a little smog can still be admired and enjoyed.

noon sun shimmers
a bayside Kodachrome moment
spare the air lunch hour

© Rebecca Sanchez 2017

Photography by +Woojin Yu follow his work on Google+.

A haibun written with my friends at dVerse~Poets Pub. In California, a Spare The Air Day is when the air is still and polluted to the point that making fires in fireplaces, burning garbage and other things that could add to the problem are prohibited until further notice. This is because we have very strict pollution laws. Although this picture looks like total pollution it’s mostly fog which we have a lot here. Despite my words, California has some of the best air in the US because most of our pollution goes down to the central valley.

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Tuesday Lost

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Tuesday Lost

I woke up this Tuesday
it was foggy and gray
local news was boring
my cat was snoring
nobody around
there was not a sound
so I looked outside
as I tried to decide
just what I could do
on a day so blue.

Coffee broke my fast
but that didn’t last
fatigued to doom
I retired to my room
I picked up a book
to take a look,
“Beware,” it read,
“this will go to your head.”

I woke up this Tuesday
instead, it was Wednesday
just around dawn
as time had crept on
a most tedious day
literally slept away.

© Rebecca Sanchez 2015

Sharing this poem from the past with Imaginary Garden With Real Toads on a Tuesday much like the one I wrote about in 2015. Photography of San Francisco under the weather by Gary Lo.

I want to ride my bike but the weather has been foggy and very windy for days on end. I anxiously wait for the wind to calm down in the mornings so I can enjoy my rides. Biking on the San Francisco Bay trails is a real downer when riding for miles into the wind.

The Boom Boom Boom

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The Boom Boom Boom

I feel the bass
############EXPLODING
through my body
###############with the boom
#########boom
###############boom.

As the electric guitar
##################SCREAMS
#######over the notes
of the opening song.

The music SMELLS
#####like an alleyway
in San Francisco

####where you get a BUZZ
########just by passing by.

The people stand
#####in lines
############waiting
at the venue
and the music
#############SPILLS
#################outside
into the streets.

So
#####singular
and beautiful
############the notes

#####as they CASCADE

 

###############down.

Bouncing
#########off the buildings
with the bass
############EXPLODING
########with the boom
##boom
########boom.

© Rebecca Sanchez 2013

Photography by Lorenzo Montezemolo. An old poem I wrote about a place I used to live and love shared with my friends at Poets United.

Painted Ladies

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Painted Ladies

Primary colors
bright painted places
all dressed to kill
with wooden faces.

Historic old homes
begging attention
just don’t ask their age
it’s a bone of contention.

Sitting so prettily
rows upon rows
ladies in waiting
in their best clothes.

© Rebecca Sanchez 2017

Photograph by Gary Lo a friend of mine on Google+. (To see more of his work click on his name.) Written for Saturdays Image Write #7. Please drop in and join me for an image write each Saturday. Also linked to Imaginary Garden Of Real Toads for the theme home.

All Lives Matter

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All Lives Matter

We have a problem
a lack of control
no damn respect
it’s taking a toll.

Police should protect
uphold the peace
do the right thing
shootings must cease.

Murder in the streets
the people are scared
the unarmed killed
lawmen impaired.

Citizens taking
the law in their hands
acting like terrorists
we must take a stand.

People picking sides
prejudice must end
dividing by color
the message it sends.

There’s power in numbers
we all must unite
Americans together
protecting our rights.

All lives matter
no matter the race
whatever the color
wherever the birthplace.

An absence of conscience
we need to stop now
killing one another
we just can’t allow.

© Rebecca Sanchez 2016

Written for Poets United, dVerse~Poets Pub and Imaginary Garden Of Real Toads.

At The Kmart

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At The Kmart

All month long you save your dough
payday’s here and it’s time to go
walking through those big glass doors
welcome to your Kmart store!

Attention all you Kmart shoppers
as for sales we have some whoppers
buy two sodas and get one free
Blue Light Special is on aisle three.

Cart is loaded but before you go
our Poor Boy Sandwich is priced real low
through the checkout, it’s time to leave
but you’ll come back it’s guaranteed.

Blue Light Specials and crazy schemes
savings stamps and layaway dreams
times remembered happily
family shopping memories.

© Rebecca Sanchez 2015

Shared with Poets United.