Joel Bush

SANTA MONICA SCARES

I'm jolted from my book as a black SUV
cuts into our lane.
"Hello, friend," Sarah mutters from the wheel.
We're nearly there.
I gaze out on the graying sea and washed-out beach signs.
The water stretches out to
a low oblivion.
Brush clings
to the muddy hillside like hair on decaying flesh.
The sunshine is brown somehow.
"Drive safely on the PCH," a bent sign says.
Our battered Accord rumbles
under the bridge.
"CRASH," screams the graffiti in obscene purple and orange.
A command? A wish?
A warning? A prophecy?
I fear that vandal and artist
knows more than me.


Joel's YouTube video reading of "Santa Monica Scares":



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Joel confesses: " This poem was inspired by a hectic road trip to see an art museum in the Santa Monica area. I was in a panicked state, which allowed me to make heightened, surrealist observations."

JOEL BUSH writes things. He also reads things. Well, sometimes he reads the things he writes. That tends to help. He is the winner of the 2021 CSUF Earth Day poetry contest, and served as an editor of DASH Literary Journal.