Sutro Baths

1. Jellyfish at Sutro Baths

2. Tide at Sutro Baths Beach

3. Sutro Baths ruins at the beach, San Francisco Golden Gate National Recreation Area

-Christine Hostetler

Paint me the morning
I want it all
The colors, the newness, the promise
Streak the sky with my desires
Fill my waking eyes with peace
Clothe me in my needed reassurance
Let me breathe in strength
Open my heavy lids to the warmth of a sunrise
I am here, ready and waiting
Arms tingling with anticipation for this next wonder
Just once, may it be for me

-Casey Splinter

Ponds

we will learn to rest when
ducks wish they could
saturate and sink
beneath a placid pond's surface
to escape the
droning of jet engines
and bickering politicians.

-Jordan Walters

a love poem, to Myself

embrace my past
(i can tell you, for sure, where i've been)

let me dream big
(i don't really know where i'll go)

embrace the Pain
the Sorrow
the Struggles
the Doubts

and dream with open arms
with open thoughts

we run through open fields
we fly through open skies.
i'll find You,
if i have to search
centuries

and love me from where it counts
from where only You can understand

i don't even know if i love You, yet
...but i will...

i will

--Grace Denny

Redemption

it's in that spark,
like a strobe--
so quick, so strong--
that i'm burned
by the reminder.
it's like a needle prick,
sucking my gasp backward:
you chose me
out of this sea
of pulverized perfections.
it's a wonder that
i didn't crumble.

-Jordan Walters

Symphony

they say you conduct
this great symphony.

each blade bends
to kiss the ground
beneath it
whenever your feet itch.

i'll swallow that.

each sunset falls
from your fingertips
when your hands ache
from the weight of
the exhalations released
by acres of clouds.

i'll swallow that.

when tumors shrink
wounds close
still hearts beat
fevers break
it's your hot breath that
melts mortality's
icy advances.

i'll swallow that.

they say you orchestrate
this quivering concert.

but
the fevers unbroken
tears undried
screams unanswered
the graves dug
and graves defiled--
did you conduct these?

did you watch?
who tied your hands?
who crippled your redemptive feet?

i can utter that you see,
i can utter that you hear,
i can utter that you know,
i can utter that you allow.
but i will not utter
that you cause,
that you willed.

i will not swallow this.

-Jordan Walters

Happy New Year!

A happy new year to everyone from the Underground! We plan to do a lot more advertising of this site to start the semester, so stay tuned for quite a few new posts this January!

Mastering the Nanny

You're tomorrow, and I'm two months ago from

the corner by sushi until forty blocks on.

You still peak in the mailbox and I carol

by subway kids who tremble fingers

in grammas' passing grocery bags.

But the treble trouble mobwaxes

wee plastic baggies without the ziplock,

and now the freezer burns the peewees.

Our molestive child somersaults, now.

Our bookmarks crinkle when flown.

Our woodelephant lactates a bit in our frilly toilet bowl,

and our glass tables, napkins, and galaxies implode.

Good news (bears) on until you get these scrunchies.

-Arin Fisher