Ciao Oregon!

Goodbye trailer, goodbye tourists,
Photographers of the storm!
My third retirement has ended
Now returning to my norm.

I’ll miss the Oregon coast as much
As Whidbey, that called me home.
The island chronicles my history,
Imprisoning me with freedom all alone.

Mercury Falling

The first of autumn gathered clouds,
Still the sun managed to break free…
A waterfall of sunbeams dropped,
Into the sea of mercury.

The winter tint approaches,
Removing colors from Depoe Bay…
Like water wrung from dish rags,
I turned my back and moved away.

I found my piece of driftwood,
While searching the summer’s shore.
Completing my collected memories;
No need for staying there anymore.

Pollyanna Takes a Tumble

Pollyanna took a tumble,
She fell down and scraped her knee.
The way she saw the future world
Changed with her injury.

Before, all trees touched heaven,
The breeze, whispers from God…
Now she knows asphalt and gravel,
Are more devilish than sod.

Pollyanna wears a seatbelt,
Life is but circumstance…
Of course life is never ending,
Yet why take on any chance?

New Millennium Nazis

In youth I dreamed of world peace,
Then endured a heart operation…
So I could witness late in life,
This appalling world and my nation.

The New Millennium Nazis,
Are showing everywhere these days.
The world forgets past genocides,
Inventing brand new ways.

France sends a hundred thousand Gypsies,
To Romania on a train…
Though most were never born there,
They were dumped there just the same.

Israel sent foreign worker’s children,
Packing on planes to a new home,
In countries they were not born in,
Now hundreds stranded, and all alone.

Kinder hearts questioned their motives,
Both countries replied they’re sure;
Their decisions were the right ones,
To remaining ethnically right and pure…

Tea baggers want to nullify,
Amendments to our constitution,
Solely based on another’s culture,
Ignoring slavery or child-prostitution.

Arizona has passed border laws,
Hoping mass deportations soon begin;
To rid citizens of their indigenous state,
Of persons with a darker skin.

Wall Street scams and corporate greed,
The selfish humanity I see…
Illustrate the tide is turning,
The New Millennium Nazi.

In youth I dreamed of world peace,
Then endured a heart operation…
So I could witness late in life,
This appalling world, and my nation.

Another Summer Gone

Raindrops on the windshield,
Signal summer is almost gone…
The college kids and tourists
Purchased sweaters and moved on.

The fishermen anchor up their boats,
“Trailer Sailors” have headed home…
Pelicans and Grey Whales head south,
The harbor seal swims alone.


Depoe Bay, OR September 2010

The Wave; Gaia

She rolled into our lives one day,
Like fog smothering the beach…
Each day she passed by like a wave,
Drifting in, then out of reach.

Her uncharacteristic fondness
Found our lost and missing parts.
We thought our lives were whole until,
She filled our pessimistic hearts,

We should have known under this sun,
Life would never let her stay…
Though none were able to prepare,
That she might just leave one day.

Sitting near the funeral home…
We found an open parking place…
As if it were Cape Canaveral,
Witnessing a launch to outer-space.

Incinerators, life consuming,
Coughed a brief cloud towards the sky.
Wafting one final, solid presence,
The chimney waved her last good-bye.

 In memory of Sally Hayton-Keeva

Fanning Pages

My thumb inside the binding,
Fanning the hundreds of book pages…
I have no need to read these words,
It is my own life through the ages.

The speed of flashing chapters,
Split-second memories and dreams…
Is no time-line exaggeration,
Life passed that fast, it seems.

We tally battles won and lost,
Weighing regrets past and before us…
Realizing life is not a song,
It happens once, no chorus.