I guess, compared to other places,
California is big.
You can find small places
near San Francisco though -
where neighbors are important,
and the air brings you the smell of salt
from an ocean that is bordered by Africa
and China
and even Europe, farther away.
The ground is unsteady and unreliable,
so it's a crap shoot, choosing to live here.
Every couple of years, someone will say,
"We're due for the Big One,"
living as we do near the long San Andreas fault.
They've been saying this for years -
so someday they will be right.
Some men I know lived as soldiers
through an atomic war -
I was in high school at the time.
We are always living among survivors.
I think there's a reason for choosing
to live in small places, where it means
you can understand better what life's experiences
are all about and why we make the choices we do.
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