El Porto, Twilight by Jonathan Yungkans 1. Where the Pacific blends into a Spanish-Portuguese marketing conceit, it mirrors my own lack of logic, a hemorrhage tarnishing quiet. The wind smells of gore. The sea dusks. It stumbles cross currents, bleeding out and collapsing. The unseen moon heaves it up. Call me Lazarus for all theContinue reading “El Porto, Twilight by Jonathan Yungkans”
Tag Archives: California
Anacapa Island by Jonathan Yungkans
Anacapa Island by Jonathan Yungkans The island is Eneepah to the Chumash Islanders, meaning ever-changing or deceptive or perhaps mirage. Like the picture of California’s best view I saw online— the spine of Santa Monica Mountains rising from the Pacific, grey against deep blue, clouds purple bruises above them and the distant sunset gold. NothingContinue reading “Anacapa Island by Jonathan Yungkans”
Bodega Bay Internship by Jeff Burt
Bodega Bay Internship by Jeff Burt Scraping out oysters just to scrape by waves scraping back draft daft captain capped pelican turns and terns on cans muscular mussels gulls the grafters grifters gifts of dry dock grit in paint peel pearled on deck propellers spun sun-lures in the harbor car broken down tow truck forContinue reading “Bodega Bay Internship by Jeff Burt”
Corona Hopelings, Morro Bay, CA by Jeanie Greenfelder
Corona Hopelings, Morro Bay, CA by Jeanie Greenfelder Birds reclaim their beach, lounge in the sun or set up umbrellas for shade. Some picnic, others watch waves. In truth, on this cloudy morning, one gull almost hits me with a clam as he flies and drops it over and over until it cracks. Then heContinue reading “Corona Hopelings, Morro Bay, CA by Jeanie Greenfelder”
Revisiting Joshua Tree National Park by Carolyn Martin
Revisiting Joshua Tree National ParkTwentynine Palms, Californiaby Carolyn Martin Joshua fit the battle of JerichoAnd the walls come tumblin’ down . . . — An African-American spiritual The terrain hasn’t changed. The Cap still tilts.The Skull glares over a parking lot.The Jumbo Rocks? This careless pile nudgedfrom eons underground lazes in theContinue reading “Revisiting Joshua Tree National Park by Carolyn Martin”
Golden Gate Morning by Marianne Brems
Golden Gate Morning by Marianne Brems Fog spills over the ridge like a cauldron. Thick and soft as goose feathers, swaddling a bridge not ready to rise from sleep beneath its hidden towers. The majestic turned docile inside a shroud of gray. But within seconds, like an apology for obstruction, the north tower leaps throughContinue reading “Golden Gate Morning by Marianne Brems”
How to Regain Your Soul by William E. Stafford
How to Regain Your Soul by William E. Stafford Come down Canyon Creek trail on a summer afternoon that one place where the valley floor opens out. You will see the white butterflies. Because of the way shadows come off those vertical rocks in the west, there are shafts of sunlight hitting the river andContinue reading “How to Regain Your Soul by William E. Stafford”
Granada Park Love by Don Kingfisher Campbell
Granada Park Loveby Don Kingfisher Campbell My life has been a series of trees planted in soilOne has purple flowers nowAmidst the abandoned Stonehenge picnic area of my pastColumns rise but there is no roof, no shelterA tall tree has found its huggerA lone lamp in a green fieldThe only pathway surrounded by other arrangedContinue reading “Granada Park Love by Don Kingfisher Campbell”
Robert N. Coats, Searching for Arborglyphs
Searching for Arborglyphs by Robert N. Coats In the Jarbidge Range, my seventeenth year, I drove up dusty dirt roads, across clanging cattle guards, hiked into high meadows and aspen groves. There I found the spot where in 1929, Efrain Madariaga of Iparralde, Spain scribed his name, and a record of his loneliness and desire:Continue reading “Robert N. Coats, Searching for Arborglyphs”
The Naked Desert by David Del Bourgo
The Naked Desert by David Del Bourgo Coming home from a sales call at the Naval Weapons Center, China Lake, stop at McDonalds in Mojave for take-out coffee. Winds gusting from the west at sixty-miles an hour slash around the tail-end of the Sierras. It’s too damned hot to be wearing a long sleeve shirtContinue reading “The Naked Desert by David Del Bourgo”
POETRY and PLACES 