Beach Cobbles

 

Maps to Home

 Maps to Home

 Jim D. Babwe

A Poetic Libretto with links

One

Ridgetop

Easy to imagine

this peaceful place,

a special site

where some choose

to build a home,

live their lives

away from the city,

away from traffic.

Camping for years-- 

similar to an ongoing vacation

surrounded by pines

(aromatic scent)

occasional night thunder,

forked lightning

looking for a grocery store

or a liquor store

to destroy

might not be

too farfetched

to an old guy

with or without 

a metal kite.

"Ridgetop"  Jesse Colin Young

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76yctdQST5E

Two

Home Is In My Head

Check out the Sunday paper's

Real Estate Section.

It's listed right there

along with homes

not in my head.

Mine is a 900 square foot fixer-upper

described as charmingly rustic,

which implies the current state

of disrepair is intentional

when the truth is

a second mortgage,

outrageous credit card debt,

and bankruptcy

made it impossible

to pay for the new roof,

one which I created

based upon a D.I.Y. strategy,

which obviously

serves as evidence

to prove English majors

should have enough sense

to avoid construction projects

in need of thick tar,

shingles, a nail gun,

and other specialized tools.

"Home Is in My Head"  Jackie Lomax

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgXBZXo9fis

Three

We Used to Wait 

Except for the absence

of a rickety basketball backboard

and its rusty orange hoop,

except for a wood plank fence

that's in better shape,

except for the yellow lines

for designated parking spaces,

except for the two-story house

behind the garage,

except for the leafless trees--

this could have been my house--

the one I grew up in

and (fortunately) escaped.

I would have picked up those

branches in the driveway.

"We Used to Wait"  Arcade Fire

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QM9w9PUzPgg&list=RDxQuUN1HGa0c&index=2

Four

Home Soon

If we filled water balloons 

with paint and threw them

at one another,

they would not have been 

water balloons

and we would have definitely

gotten the shit kicked out of us

by angry parents.

Primarily because 

both parents are no longer

amongst the living,

I could get away

with this kind 

of misbehavior

these days.

Summer is only

a few months away.

Feel free to drop by the house,

but make sure you're

wearing old clothes.

"Home Soon"  Dope Lemon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-VQHgtV0n8

Five

My Old House to The Towers

The bicycle ride 

was just short of five miles

and took less than a half hour.

From my house

on Manette Place

ride to Olanda Street

and turn right

toward Carlin Avenue.

Continue on Carlin

past Atlantic, past Mark Twain School,

past Lynwood High School

until you reach Long Beach Boulevard.

Turn right.

Go to Imperial Highway

and make a left.

Turn right on Fernwood Avenue.

(Hercules Burgers is still there).

Fernwood changes into

Santa Ana Boulevard.

Continue to 107th Street

and you'll see your destination--

The Watts Towers.

"Express Yourself"

Charles Wright and The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFyZ4HiLbl0

Six

Home Is In The Sky

Vocabulary preview:

rebellious   amplified   contagious

psychoanalysis   chaotic   deceptive

untamability   shocktertainment   unmanipulatable

I have good news.

Everyone gets an A on today's quiz.

I brought music.

1988.

My Jesus birthday.

The last year

in Los Angeles.

Precious time.

Scabby knees proved

I was the shortstop

never afraid to dive--

highway robbery

according to disappointed

surprised batters 

on opposing teams.

My team's name?

Nasty pun

included the following word:

Cunning.

My daughter turned two

with no trace of terrible.

None.

Her first real word was

"Light."

That home is in the sky.

"Ocean Size"

Jane's Addiction

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDIAJhharwQ

Seven

Going Out In Style

A strange association

among synaptic neural

hemispheric survivors

of what's left of my mind

and recollections

of the day I checked off

a half century

jumped out of the screen

to tell me

I need to see

The Dropkick Murphys

perform live.

Driving distance from Boston

to San Diego stands at 3033 miles,

so the weird miracle

about this wild reckless fun

will continue to exist as imagined reality

where I planted

roots in a commitment

to enthusiastic participation--

the worthy replacement

for an easier, quieter role

as spectator--

which I leave 

to the timid and fearful

until I can afford

a roundtrip flight

to New England.

"Going Out In Style"

Dropkick Murphys

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7g3RuoreRc

Eight

Stealing

Several hundred pages

specify a set of extensive

rules for baseball.

Standing in obvious contradiction

to another set of extensive rules

stealing is completely legal 

in baseball—

requires no public defender

or private lawyer

because criminal charges

cannot be brought against 

someone who committed no crime

(unless you are a politician).

Fair, foul, ball, strike—

baseball defines and delineates

differences between allowed and prohibited

differences between right and wrong--

    rewards successful risk

    provides powerful lessons in humility

    punishes overconfidence

    with relentless consistency.

The path around bases

is a rectangular full circle

with clearly defined chalk lines

and two hazy routes

where choices are abstract  

connections to and from safe harbors—

no boats.

The game encourages 

skill

luck

and familiarity with the rules

to prove we can

actually come home again.        

Fernando Tatis, Jr. Steals Home

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPiKkPgDd6Y

Nine

Internal Combustion

Powered by a Briggs and Stratton

lawnmower engine the homemade mini-bike

introduced me to large green bushes

on a neighbor's front yard.

Scrapes

and a few bruises

healed quickly

but love

of wind and speed

and unincumbered visibility

(outgoing and incoming)

waited a few years

for the Yamaha 175 Enduro

(never wore a helmet)

which became the symbolic

(dangerous)

source of many true stories:

Evading Police.

Aluminum Freeway Ladder.

Dirt Trails.

Saying Goodbye to The Last Open Space.

City Streets to The Beach.

This bike

became my 

mechanical twin.

"Two Stroke Machine"

7Horse

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0VgRV5ZhJk

Ten

Home

It happened on your birthday

when you arrived cold and naked

warmed by those who bathed you

and wrapped you in blankets

introduced you to your family.

You did not know what to say

until you learned to speak.

You changed the lives of others

that day and every day forward

every time they changed your diaper

your clothes

breakfast lunch and dinner.

You changed the world

when you learned

to crawl

to stand

to walk

to run.

Compared to earthquakes

and other dramatic new events 

maybe you believe 

your changing the world

is

inconsequential

insignificant

less than important

small.

But all changes are incremental steps

collected components contributing

to process

a larger accumulation 

of conscious 

of semi-conscious

of seemingly unconscious

effort 

incremental steps

as vital as breathing.

What if I tell you

about your work 

for a modern Pony Express?

You

riding a horse 

through the desert

up and over mountains

around dangerous obstacles

past distractions

across various boundary lines.

You

carry important cargo--

messages for a hungry audience

waiting for encouragement

a thirst for fun

striving to survive

searching for someplace

like home.

 

The Fake News V2

 

Testing. Testing. Is this thing on?

 

Press Release: Out of The Rancho Into Fiasco

 

The Art and Poetry of Eureka Jotflund: Icelandic Icon, American Legend

NOTE: The following pages are part of a soon to be unleashed work of partly fiction entitled Out of the Rancho and Into Fiasco. What I have inflicted upon you below is a retrospective look at the second official exhibition which was hosted by Fiasco CA's No Ghost Gallery. One more thing for now . . . the Icelandic language is not simply complicated and somewhat archaic, its general appearance, the common letter sequences, and its weird nuances have not hindered Iceland's efforts to achieve universal literacy. Iceland's literacy rate is one of the highest on the planet.

JDB