Boardwalk

I never could have dreamed

of craggy snow peaked mountains

being the matter of fact backdrop

to lakes and rivers in the west.

Skyscrapers used to define tall

and would be a speck against them.

The boardwalk I trek almost

daily along Bellingham Bay

reminds me that I escaped the

clutch of childhood expectations,

city streets and altercations

smoggy skies - a fabrication

and life lived on cement.

Once I hitched away

from a place I couldn’t

stay, a hippie ballet

from trashcan

alleys and decay.

I stroll this boardwalk

that lacks the casinos

that invaded my placid

place down the shore.

On a recent nostalgia tour

the Big Ugly shocked me

by its size and glorification

of his name, blazed in neon on top.

Which foreshadowed

the twisted parallel universe

we are all stuck in.

And I'm trying desperately

to hitch away but I can't seem

to find the highway.