This is then, when they stepped out, right ?
down the steps from the hotel to the Aubergine –
more like black bruise colored,
the concrete ramp they call the Aubergine
to make being old or in a chair not stink –
and across the Checkerboard –
the regular boardwalk painted black and white
so getting to the sand is a game not a drag –
and to the sand. Before this is when
they were in their room for two days
only some steps and the Aubergine
and the Checkerboard away from the sea.
This is after the fight at El Patio
and the fire and the red tag on the door –
so you know you can’t live there anymore –
after the first hotel in Carlsbad –
this is Laguna, right ? this is when we freaked
and didn’t know if they were in jail
or in TJ or they killed each other,
which she did, him, when they stepped out
and down onto the cool blue gray sundown sand
after two days in that room with a rock
she picked up on The Aubergine
and the hotel said their room was really clean
and the bed was still made.