Under El Segundo Palms

Under El Segundo palms
sand scrabbling over blacktop
newly laid and crisply lined;
here on a boulevard strangers walk,
smiles are easy under blissful
blankets of California heat.

Even in the din of traffic
and overhead LAX incoming,
the rub of rolling wheels
from passing skateboarders —
somehow it seems more a symphony
than the howl of wolf packs
in some empty wood.