STEVEN HENDRIX

Sutro Baths

I sit on the rock I always sit on, overlooking Sutro Baths
I make the people around me disappear, the hundreds of tourists,
I hear only the sound of the small waves as they hit the rocks
and an occasional call from the seagulls that inhabit seal rock
the sky is blue, dotted with puffs of white
the water is blue, lined with white edges
the baths I’ve even turned blue again (why not?) after so many years
I hold the mala in my left hand, feel the beads between my fingers
this is the place I come to rejuvenate my mind
where the sky is dark, the clouds grey
and the rain unrelenting
this is the place I come
to breathe
to breathe
to breathe
even now, from my own home, quarantined by fate or virus
I close my eyes and transport myself to this not so ancient ruin
on the coast of this very ancient ocean and allow my soul
to sing
to sing
to sing

Steven Hendrix received his M.A. in Comparative Literature from CSULB. He co-hosted the pop-up bookstore and reading series Read On Till Morning in San Pedro, CA and is author of the poetry collection Leave With More Than You Came With (Arroyo Seco Press, 2019) and the chapbook Every Breath Matters Most (Beach Chair Press, 2023). His work has appeared in Chiron Review, Slouching Beast Journal, Silver Birch Press, Drunk Monkeys, and Pocket Lint, among others. His website readontillmorning.org will be coming soon(ish). He currently lives in San Francisco with his partner Erin and his sons Langston and Paxton.