Yesterday there were people
in Petaluma
walking around downtown
all day long.

They were people
who like poetry.
Some people would say
they were mostly old hippies.

They walked from place to place
to hear poetry
read by poets from Petaluma
and other places too.

The California State Poet Laureate
Al Young was there
lending some official importance to
the affair that happens each year.

I was there too, sharing the Phoenix Theatre
with skateboarders and bikers who waited
while poets performed poetry.
They might have been listening too.

In Petaluma there’s people who like poetry
will spend a day walking in their downtown,
and talking, and listening to poetry
read by real live poets.