Haibun

                                             CALIFORNIA DREAMING

October 9, the day we arrive in Los Angeles.  Connecticut transplants. Fugitives from cold winters and lack of work.  Mom, Dad, older sister and I, 16 years old.  A new life in the ultimate dreamland.

                                                 stepping off the train

                                                 a Santa Anna blows
                                                 on schedule 

Surprises and changes every day.  The hot autumn, not the cool, brisk, vivid season of the northeast; eye smarting smog, the sky a dull beige, not the clean, fresh blue we knew; tacos, chili and burritos, not fish and chips or ham with baked beans; bungalows, haciendas and mission churches, not colonial, Georgian and gothic cathedrals.

                                               Pacific sunset–
                                               cheering to win
                                               new school colors

Gean, June 2010