Walking backwards
thumb up, pumping north
fog moving in.
Years later, purple sand
delights small hands,
the family together and
young.
Walking about these neighborhoods
I am comforted by the sight
of the Coastal Redwoods,
random and rare,
planted with care by
who?
Familiar friends out of
place in these hot, dry hills.
Here a lone tree anchors
the landscape.
Down the road
a forest of three or four shade
the foggy memory of vacations
many years gone.
A gift shop at Big Basin,
the oldest State Park in
California,
or maybe Pfeiffer State
Park in majestic Big Sur,
trees in a plastic tube
might thrive, and revive
that part of the mind
that reminds us of
a time.
A nod to Stanford
or California’s Northern Coast.
Who planted these trees?
What prompted their decision
to undertake desert revision?