V. The Grackles Are Up to Something
**
There are places in this world
where the dry ground meets the sea.
Transient places.
In-between places.
Places not yet there.
They’re called swamps,
and they’re called marshes,
and I think I’ve heard the term
tidal flats.
They are wet,
and they are dry,
and they are full of dead-end streets.
You can’t move too quickly
around dead-end streets.
There’s a fat peninsula here,
East of the highway
South of Cesar Chavez,
that’s full of dead-end streets.
It’s got a lagoon,
and it’s got the bike trail,
and it’s got that power plant that used to be serviced
by the train tracks they just never tore up.
It’s got schools,
and it’s got parks,
and it’s got that car club that
suffered quite a stir.
It’s got old houses,
and it’s got new houses,
and it’s got the best damn sunsets
in a city with the best damn sunsets.
It’s by the water.
It’s full of dead-end streets.
You can’t move too quickly
around dead-end streets.
**
