Day One:
emerging from the cab
we ring the bell,
Zoey peering down
echos mission meetings
and my eagerness
in san francisco
for a role in Zoey’s play.

chortling and burbling
we lug our gear up
and in no time
are off again hiking down escher routes
to the sea.

dipping toes in the Med
we view the fortress guarded harbor
and high masted fishing boats
then on,
to lose ourselves
midst sunny turbans and saris
and market venders
where Panda and Zoey
fearlessly add their streams of French
to the open air current.

we score fat fresh shrimp
shallots
and French greens
we will eat later
dressed in Isa’s
tarragon secrets.

Si’s found fine wine
for balcony dining that night
that ends gorgeously
in apricots, sunset and chocolate.

Other Days:
we walk the town
always uphill
"how much further"
"just keep walking"
til a final stairway
finds the vaulted church we seek
where sacred singing
sounds a grace note
above our family chord.

we thrive together
til Notre Dame de la Guarde,
where all the icons
of sailors saved
can’t save our leader
from giving up on
our insouciant ways.

she and i walk down
the martyr steps
stones of family division
in our shoes
leaving lingering Panda
behind
to lose Redwood
til first he, then she,
find their way back to us
at home.

The Cheese Store:
Zoey’s pot holder
holds court
on one whole wall
sent from fisherman’s wharf
it definately takes
a cheesy prize.

the cheese king himself
embraces Zoey (beloved
with three red topknots)
in pie size grins
and huge bear hugs.

he happily surrenders
his kingdom
where cheese doesn’t stand alone
but is surrounded
by other cheeses
hard and soft,
yellow, white and green,
moldier, oldier
smelling repelling and compelling.

at home
(compliments to the wine)
can heaven on bread
really smell like this?

i’m in a favorite country.
the one with two daughters present.


Home, Sweetheart, Home:
Isabelle is back
in welcoming accents.
Isa and Zoey
so succulent, sweet
and saucy together.

the apartment
frames them like jewels;
a blueberry and a strawberry
suspended mid art, work and love
over the city below.

The Conques!:
we trudge
alongside
bisque
and chalky cliffs
til suddenly, steep
below us bursts pristine
-all shades of divine
blue ocean.

alas my shoes are wrong.
they skid and float
where they should grasp,
but i’m saved from stumbling
as Zoey sweetly
hands me past a scary ledge
and we all jump down
to secret pirate cove
where carefee bathers sun
in easy nudity


Engagement:
our last night
over boulliabaise
Isa asks
for Zoey’s hand.

i’m quite ready
to give up the rest
of her too!
to this spacious life
this bright and cuddly playmate.

Redwood insists
on an unambigamist
committment,
while Panda, our lawyer
only isnists
on Zoey’s right to be spoiled.

tomorrow we leave for Corsica.
we are a moveable
feast.


Corsica Doggeral:
in the old chateau
at the top of the sea
the countess said "Boo!"
her daughrer said "vous"
and her son won’t come out
to play.

it might have been mean
but tales seemed to stream
from our minds
in a manner unseemly.

who slept with whom

(could our "whos" sleep with "whom"?)
could the count
counter instinct
with Panda bearing.

did Cinderella sleep
with her brother
or just with her mother
and who did they lock
in the cellar?

the gleam form
arched windows
awoke me at midnight
to a saphire and diamond filled
miniature.

but when Zoey and Isa
unbarred locks
at sunrise-a
the countess said
"who broke the
furniture?"

the trip winding down
has made me feel giddy
such pleasure and pain
to be glued so together.

parting in sorrow
wishing sweet dreams on the morrow
in each of our soul’s
endeavors!

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