​POETRY  -  
          With a Theme of Time 

"fog closes in on the city"
                             Photo by Weebly                                 

Oh  Dear, It's June
by Margaret Gannon

Summer treats San Francisco as if
she's disappointed in us.
June shuns us—her back turned.
Dawn squints up at morning's dingy sky 
depressing as a tenement wall in need of a paint job.
Midafternoon, the ocean rolls its shoulders and
fog closes in on the City
like a silent movie dissolve.

The affectionate warmth of May gone.
No more cotton sweater day—-
hoodies under quilted vests reappear 
on dog walkers, and sometimes on their dogs. 
The sea lions lounge at the piers
comfy in their blubbery bodies,
while sweatshirt hawkers make a mint off
shivering tourists.

The bullying west wind elbows baby strollers                                
roughly along sidewalks.  
Back doors slam shut suddenly.
Patio umbrellas whooshed by wind 
fly upward like reverse parachutes, and
camellia bushes snow their shaken
white petals onto pavements.

The blah blustery days from June to August
are prologue to September's paradise.
The ocean will sigh Mediterranean breezes.
Morning fogs will burn off to cinematic blue skies; and
evening fog, thin and high, will float orange and red in the sunset.
Once September arrives, sweet gentle autumn, June, 
like an old aunt who did the best she could, is forgiven

Vertical Divider

​Margaret Gannon is a retired attorney. Admitted to practice in 1975, she was the first woman west of the Mississippi representing injured railroad workers. Her calling for 40 years was representing women in Family Court. After years of legal briefs, she is learning poetry as a new language. OLLI instructors and OLLI poetry friends are fostering a spring of creativity and just plain fun.

Editor's note: Margaret Gannon is a first-time contributor to Vistas & Byways  

Other works in this issue:
Poetry
​History of the World

Vertical Divider

We Welcome Comments