This past Thursday, I attended the launch of my friend Heather Bourbeau’s newest poetry collection, MONARCH, at the Booksmith in San Francisco’s Haight district.
Many of my old literary friends were in attendance, including Steve Meloan (whose own short story collection, St. James Infirmary, is forthcoming from Roadside Press).
Both Steve and I had once called the Upper Haight (aka the infamous Haight Ashbury of hippie yore) and its tonier annex, Cole Valley, home. Even though those residencies preceded our friendship, our conversations always touch upon our enduring affection for the area.
When I arrived at the Booksmith, I was in a morose, introspective mood. Wandering through my old neighborhood, I had observed the sad toll that the pandemic had taken. Boarded up shops and empty streets. An edge of menace in the air, where once there had been joyful crowds and street artists, even in the middle of the week.
Where was that funky used bookstore with shelves groaning under the weight of art books piled to the ceiling? The Russian bakery with Napoleon pastry that Tolstoy himself would die for? The Chattanooga Cafe where my wife and I had some of our earliest dates?
Long gone…
But the Booksmith crowd lifted my spirits immediately. Steve asked me about a story cycle I’ve been shopping around and suggested his new publisher might like it.
Here’s the synchronicity…
The next day, Steve made good on his word to send me the publisher’s contact info, and included this message:
Good seeing you! That was a real trip being back in the Haight at night. Walking back to my car I felt a bit ghost-like, remembering places like I-Beam, Grand Piano, Mommy Fortuna, etc.
That seems straightforward, sure, but consider the haiku I had just written:
haight street
all my old haunts gone
I play the ghost
Now that’s trippy! That’s synchronicity!
And if there’s any place in this world where two old hippies can still experience that kind of magic, well, that place would have to be the Haight.
Here are the past week’s haiku, including the one above:
haiku 20230313 >> El Prado, NM USA
the moon is gone
and with it the snow
one week til spring
haiku 20230314 >> Berkeley, CA USA
the rains came
and stole away the snow
red mud everywhere
haiku 20230315 >> San Diego, CA USA
how brightly
the green grass rebounds!
the snow come and gone
haiku 20230316 >> Salvador da Bahia, zBrazil
grillwork muted
by paint and soot
fresh flowers on the sill
haiku 20230317 >> Vancouver, BC Canada
haight street
all my old haunts gone
I play the ghost
haiku 20230318 >> Brooklyn, NY USA
sparrows at the feeder
another winter
behind us
haiku 20230319 >> Brookfield, WI USA
amtrak after work
tule fog and trees
In the blue dusk
See you all next week.
And don’t forget, if you want me to send you one of my haiku postcards, all you gotta do is ask.