Ode to University Avenue

Sunset on Friday.

Here's to the upscale pizza joint,
that seems to be baking fresh garlic bread every moment
I am pedaling by
hungry.
Here's to the morning coffee-goers
outside Starbucks, the ballooning mocha-skinned women,
the suits.
Here's to the mailbox next to bumper stickers,
the brick sidewalk that plinks,
as if ready to pop up
any one of these days.
Here's to the lil sammich shop full of potheads
and the fatheads outside the convenience store,
the orange-painted apartments on my left before I make the final turn
home, the stretch of bike lane on my right that inexplicably gleams
with broken bottle shards
every single day.
Here's to the blocky Chinese place,
the tiny stucco house with graphiti on its western wall,
the cacti yard behind a chainlink fence.
Here's the the palm skins on the sidewalk
and the wind that feels good in January,
and the squeak of my wheels,
and the bright blue bus stop bench,
and most of all,
"Reign of Love" playing in my ears.
To the sea I offer this heavy load.
This is living.