a small boat in light ripples

 my Monterey, Snort,

built in 1930s when the name 

meant a shot of whiskey.

how sweet our time together.

how i patched you

and worked to make you right.

thank you,  Morgan for selling her to me.

 i ordered a two cylinder, 900 pound  diesel engine 

from China.  it came to the boat yard in Sausalito.

i put it in.  a pal set it straight in the boat.

and i hooked the mechanical and electrical.

 

i can taste the salt water breeze of the Pacific

when i think of it.

oh, we had our tine running in the bay

and on the ocean.

 

 ***

 

hurray.

for the fiftieth anniversary of the Oakland bay bridge

i took my 28 foot old wooden sloop Navigator,

my nautical wood working friend Mike and Meri 

and along with over a thousand other boats

on a black windless night

 

 packed close like sardines a tin i heard them hitting  each other.

managing in the thick of music, lights and celebration

we  had a fine rime and got home without a nick.

all part of life on San Francisco Bay