Cicadas Swarm Ocean Avenue

In old Carmel, Bohemians shared poems from a shelter of Cypress Wickiups,

the abalone butterflyed open into pearled rainbows-

Now, Red Tail Hawks screech from Pines at the tourist invasion.

They look like 17-year-locusts, zombie bugs on a mission to shop.

I’m reminded of a treehouse where we sheltered as kids to watch them

molt, climb and mate around us-we, like mad scientists

in Frankensteins Tower, dissected, hurled, and filmed with Dad’s Super 8,

We would eat one if dared and offered 50 pieces of Bazooka.

But in Carmel, the drip of summer fog dampens suntans,

and swamp coolers blow hard in all 50 states.