Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Rehearsal Space





welcome to rehearsal space
invitation only
a square a circle
a basic sound unit
made skewed
by those who skew
and we've all seen
what there is to be seen
but know there's
always more
welcome to rehearsal space
did someone lock the door?


Poem #21 - NaPoWriMo

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Dinosaur Skeleton - Burke Museum, Seattle, Washington


I was in liquid, salten and blue
I was the monster that lives in your mind
I had a call that nobody knew
only the monsters of my own kind
I am a mobile, dangling on the ceiling
I am a portend of my doom
I don't know what you may be feeling
I am the dinosaur, alone in the room


Burke Museum, Seattle, WA

Poem #17 - NaPoWriMo

Monday, April 15, 2013

Lan Su Chinese Garden - Portland, Oregon




I take my son to the Lan Su Garden
on a city block in Portland
we frame our views
through multiple windows
watery leafy bridges surround
mountains the size of my son
this doesn't have to be here, I think
yet here it is


Poem #15 - NaPoWriMo

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Dome Movie Theater, Pleasant Hill, California









the Dome Theater
will be torn down to make way
for Dick's Sporting Goods
46 years of movies
matter less than mall culture

Friday, April 12, 2013

The Snow King



the Snow King emerged
from his homeland, cold and gray
I discovered him
sitting at my friend's table
sunlight lighting up his face



This is my first tanka. Here's a good review of Amelia Fielden's book of tankas, Baubles, Bangles & Beads.

Poem #12 - NaPoWriMo

Thursday, April 11, 2013

The Opposite of Crow



The opposite of crow
is snow.

Snow is quiet.
Crow's a riot.

Snow falls down.
Crow pecks the ground.

Crow alights
to nest and fight

snow beneath
its clawy feet.


Poem #11 - NaPoWriMo

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Plastic

plastic
everything
around me is plastic
I try to recycle it all
futile





Images from the "Plastics Unwrapped" exhibit at the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture—Washington State's oldest museum (founded in 1885).

Poem #10 - NaPoWriMo

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Wahkeena Falls, Columbia River Gorge, Oregon


Last time we were here
the kids were little
watching the foam
rush through the rocks

Five years is
half a life-time
in kid years


Poem #9 - NaPoWriMo

Monday, April 8, 2013

Driving by Oregon's Tiny Towns





We drove by Merrill,
  missing the potato festival
not knowing it's the birthplace
  of Scrooge McDuck

We drove by Chiloquin
  home of the longest miniature
railway system in the world
  with trains to straddle and ride

We drove by Butteville
  now considered a ghost town
though it once had a ferry
  and nearly 300 people live there

We drove by Rivergrove
  which we didn't realize
was a town, with its subtle signage
  and unfinished subdivision


Poem #8 - NaPoWriMo

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Columbia River Gorge at Sunset


Birds hang in the air
mapping the tops of trees
noting the shining puddles
where food lies waiting

We are shifting distractions


Poem #7 - NaPoWriMo

Saturday, April 6, 2013

Multnomah Falls, Columbia River Gorge, Oregon





Falling water
hurtles down
like weighty wind
shooshing and
vooming
sending weather
all around
It is happening
always happening
It is happening
right now


Poem #6 - NaPoWriMo

Friday, April 5, 2013

Blue trees, Westlake Park, Seattle Washington


If trees were arteries
and newly developed building sites
  were clots
Seattle would be in trouble


Poem #5 - NaPoWriMo

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Dorris, California - the power ballad

939 population going strong
in Dorris, California
You found a place where you belong
in Dorris, California
Just drive your car up on the lawn
in Dorris, California

chorus:
Once, home of the tallest flagpole
West of the Mississippi
Then Laredo came along
and built a bigger flagpole

Own your home for under 60K
in Dorris, California
Butte Valley promotes the American way
in Dorris, California
Rep Doug LaMalfa championed Proposition 8
in Dorris, California

chorus



Driving through Dorris video by 4daisy714

Poem #3 - NaPoWriMo

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Crater Lake National Park, Oregon

Three levels of snow
  for voles, hares and sooty grouse to go
Subnivean: seeds and grass,
  carbon dioxide gas
Internivean, where it's warm,
  a hooting feathered swarm
Supranivean has footprints,
  rummaging forever for food

Thousands of feet below
  a spent volcano
we don't entirely know
  what we think we know



Crater Lake is visible fifty-percent of the year. We got lucky and saw it early in the day. By the end of our afternoon snowshoe hike, it was completely covered by dense cloud cover.

Poem #2 - NaPoWriMo

Monday, April 1, 2013

Hedge Creek Falls - Dunsmuir, California

You're going to drive down the road a bit, off the highway
Look for the sign that looks like a train
This town used to be called Pusher
'cause they pushed trains up the hill here

Walk down the slippery sloping path
shiny with wet mud from drips and drops
Berry bushes aren't Poison Oak
they're jaggedy around the edges, see?
See the thorns? That's to protect the berries.
Poison Oak wants you to touch it.

Keep going, you're almost there.
Boulders sound like what they are.
There must have been water rushing through here
like nobody's business
hundred, two-hundred-thousand years ago

Is that your Mom?
Tell her it's OK to walk under the overhang
It's not too slick under the chute
Tell her stagecoach robbers used to hide under there
before robbing the coach
She afraid?
Tell her that crag's not going anywhere
for another hundred-thousand years








To get to Hedge Creek Falls from Weed, go south on Interstate 5 to the first exit for Dunsmuir, Take an immediate right on the frontage road at the bottom of the offramp; you will see a small park and parking area on your left, Park there; the trail to the falls begins next to a rock fountain that overlooks the Sacramento River canyon. - Hedge Creek Falls

Poem #1 - NaPoWriMo