86 (3)

Thou lovest everyone wholly as if him alone. The lip of Pearl Harbor is covered with tents, men fishing next to “don't eat the fish” signs. (It's a Superfund Site.) A white-haired white guy with camouflage backpack emerges from a rest room, fills an empty liquor bottle with water, lingers. He sits down to watch five or six mokes grilling meat, their truck shaking with bass-lines. One in four persons cited for sitting and lying on Waikiki Beach is a tourist. The girls on spring break vow never to return. “Persons lingering or remaining on stream bank areas may be swept away by sudden floodwaters, may accidentally fall into the stream, or may urinate, defecate, bathe or otherwise contaminate the stream waters.” I wonder at the word “linger.” To remain alive while gradually dying.

--30 May 2015

Language comes from Bill 46, before the City Council this coming Tuesday.