Geography lesson

 Geography lesson

The clams clamor on the shore

I walk by – a tempus fugitive

leaving behind a bitch’s spoor.

This is life. This is how I live.

We’re all undressed in its big blue eye

- that ill named, that surly Pacific.

Our tsunami will come by and by

- divorce, mass shooting, penny panic

of all the investments we should never have made.

isn’t this life? This is how I live

among tanned life guards in their umbrella shade

the beach is a tempus fugitive.

I’m an Atlantic girl. I see Europe

I see Africa. This is how I live.

I’ve come to Cali and I’ve lost my scope.

I’m homesick, I’m – a tempus fugitive.

- Karen Chamisso