Ferlinghetti on the Lawn
for Nancy Baughman
1967
Chico State
I lie with Nancy
tummies down on towels
bikinied
in deep June grass
Ferlinghetti open
in my hands
opens me
a Coney Island of the Mind
indeed
page after page
the ninja poet's lines
dance and pierce
I look over at Nancy
she's now face up
eyes closed
under Chico sun
her white blonde hair flows
across a sky blue towel
listen to this
"Beauty stands and waits
with gravity
to start her death-defying leap"
wow
she says softly
and looks over at me
hand shading her
pool blue eyes