by Jim Force (Nika), Michael Dylan Welch, and vincent tripi

 

First published in Woodnotes #23, Winter 1994, page 8–9. Written 20 December 1993, at the Toy Boat Café in San Francisco. See also “Summer in the Country,” written with Jim (and Colleen Gerrish Force) in 2011, which bookends the following rengay, eighteen years later.

 

 

Christmas in San Francisco—

one in shorts

another in a parka                                                           Jim

 

        a crack in the pavement

        stops a strand of tinsel                                          Michael

 

street-corner santa

drops a coin

into the beggar’s cup                                                     vincent

 

        the fog lifts . . .

        St. Dominic’s bell                                                      Jim

 

slowing for the traffic light—

a Christmas wreath

on the fire truck’s grill                                                    Michael

 

        crowded cable car:

        the evening star                                                       vincent