we were down in la la land visiting friends

what a zoo   but i love it in short doses   we went

to the beach in santa monica   i went for a run on the bike   slash   

running path   along with approximately a billion others   

most of whom speak something other than english   

a polyglot culture   musical   in forms consonant and dissonant

i don't usually run with music   but i did

on this occasion   my iphone in my little fanny pack   

on my little fanny   bouncing along listening to whatever came next   

i had run for a long time before i realized

i had been listening to the same song   la rosita   for the past five miles   

it was a loop   over and over

i hadn't noticed for it fit my rhythm

is that not great   how often does that happen   when the internal

and externals of life become one 

and in that run   which was a long one   seventeen miles   

mister hawkins and i became one   as intimate as lovers without the mess

now   when i hear the song i feel the warm sun 

and the rhythm of running    and the voices that i heard that day

and my body gets that light and lithe feeling it gets

when running comes easily   or before love   

i think of mister hawkins   the consummate gentleman

gifted in the ways of a teacher and lover   master of all   of his ability

to touch   rhapsodically   and i hope   in his own way   

be touched   he touched me   would that i could reciprocate   

`