Ozzie Ausband

Summer

Al Partanen- Andy's Chino

 Fog lays across the coast like a strange incantation in the night. However, it is first light. June gloom. Marine layer. I am by the sea, yet the morning is held at bay. Cold. The ocean is rolling & dark. Birds circle & soar. They fly silently, as if by staying quiet, they won't break the trance of dawn.  It is summer. Everyone is here... or soon will be. I can see the afternoon in my minds eye. Noise & clamor. Music deep & throbbing. Glittering cars piloted by people not as bright. The lonely parade. I watch. Unimportant & sidelined . I see the endless problem in it all...  Glass & chrome. Those walking by- checking their reflections, consumed by their outsides. I see big-bellied balding boys in buttoned shirts that resemble seat covers; loud & flowered. Leering, they pour their eyes over the bikini-clad teenage beach- goers. The girls' summer skin is peanut butter brown & sweet. Freckled shoulders- eyes bold in innocence. Not jaded. They do not yet know their worth. The men wish they were young again. Wet lips. Rutting. Tactless. Sweating. Urgency covers everything. All things in summer should be slow...  the floating of a hummingbird, rum-darkened fruit drinks, warm nights, the smells of grilled food on the patio...   wind chimes & Valium skies. Where did all of that go?  I turn my head away as a carload of plastic girls go by in a Bentley. Their laughter reaches back to me...  I faintly hear the lyrics to a song--half forgotten. ".... and it rained & it rained & it rained all summer!" Thanks to Rhino for the image. Skate- Ozzie “A girl in a bikini is like having a loaded pistol on your coffee table — there’s nothing wrong with them, but it’s hard to stop thinking about it.” — Garrison Keillor