Northern California Gothic

The stark blue skies
And hooked highways
Crawling across a landscape
Barren and strange

Not quite a desert
But thirsty
So thirsty

Orchards and rice
Give way to small towns
That tangle into concrete jungles
A questionable landscape painting

I can’t remember overcast

The heat looks like spring
And feels like a planet closer to the sun

Emeralds and effortlessly green grass
Are in a distressed memory now
Torn
Threadbare

I wish I could see clouds

There is the scent of smoke on the air
More a question than a threat
Is it time?

Mountains hazy in the distance and train tracks that run like Jack rabbits
Up the haunted country side

Another day where
Rain is not even thought of
By the brutal sky

I can’t remember overcast