COAST ROAD

Yesterday I quit the city
and drove North again
up the coast road to Fresno

Remember the ocean breeze
mussing up your hair?

I wanted to stay again
at the motel Casa Rosa
smell the orange blossom
and feel the sun on our skin

But the coast road petered out
just after Hanford
rotting away
in a copse of yukka trees
grey among green fields

I could see the motel
roofless and sad
windowless, abandoned

When they built the freeway
they’d closed the old coast road

Nell gave me your email!
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