"shasta" poems
Stomped earth with broad feet
Fastening fresh saplings into
Whole forests
Eight feet by eight feet, the grid
Through winter month's
To early spring
Line of tree planters, twenty
Sometimes less, sometimes more
On Shasta, on Lassen, on Trinity Alps
Douglas Firs and Ponderosa Pines
In Mendocino, in Eureka
Planting baby giants, Redwoods
Sequoias in Sequoia National and Klamath
Young men with hoe-dads
Knew some old ones too
Women as well, though few
If you could bear the snow, the rain
If you could bear back-breaking pain
The glory is yours
As was once mine
Reforestation
Go plant your line
To be eternally in
Mother Nature's good graces
And kinship known by campfire
Dec 26, 2015
Dec 26, 2015 at 9:56 PM UTC
a twenty-six year old woman sits alone outside a coffee shop, waiting
she plays Snake on an old Nokia that was discontinued long ago
her red dread locks are tucked neatly under a worn beanie
that she stole from the boy that she gave her virginity away to
in a skate park when she was nineteen
a twenty-six year old woman sits alone at her desk, writing
she has a one night stand whose name she doesn't remember sleeping in her bed
her mascara is running and her lips are dyed black from henna
that she stole from the girl who offered her shelter when she ran away to live
in her car and dingy motel rooms after college
a twenty-six year old woman sits outside a Stop and Shop, drinking Shasta
she recently tried to publish her book of poems , but it was rejected so:
her shorts barely covered her backside and she wore the bralette
that she stole from her brother's girlfriend while she was visiting
in the false hopes that he would register how badly she needed him (or anyone)
a twenty-six year old woman sits in a little blue rowboat, drilling holes into the bottom
she skims Red Kayak before she leaves home and ties rocks around her ankles
her thoughts are set on mentally regressing the pain of her teenage years
that she wishes she could steal back to at least put some emotion back
into her heart
it'd been better than feeling nothing at all
Jul 8, 2013
Jul 8, 2013 at 6:24 PM UTC
the moment on the top of Mount Shasta,
peering over the vast green landscape,
walking beside the Yuba river,
bubbling and overflowing in blue and green hues
underneath the willow tree in my back lawn,
it is reaching down to envelope me.
It is silence.
more than all the clatter of noiseless gongs trying to prove worth
It is goodness.
more than the righteousness we believe we have
It is oneness.
more united than the waters on the surface of this earth.
Jun 19, 2016
Jun 19, 2016 at 6:53 PM UTC
~
where’s the rain
to save the day?
the silo empty,
the barn no hay.
the only pouring
we have seen
is from the counter
down the street.
gin and beer and
old Jim Beam,
the bar is full,
but glass is empty.
our men are weeping,
children hungry!
these fields that yielded
harvest plenty
under sweat of
daddy's brow,
now they’ll try’n
take my home;
state moves in
to steal our peace,
won’t leave us ’lone,
till we’ve been fleeced.
send a draught to
quench our pain;
end this drought with
drenching rain!
this to you we pray...
*“pour from heaven’s door,
indulge us with an inundation;
from the bounty of your store
deluge us with a liquidation”*
oh, keeper of
these cloudless skies,
send sweet rain
to wet these eyes!
for the lost ones
in this town,
to save this family,
save this farm,
from heartless souls
who mean us harm.
i am just a poor boy
whose cup has all run dry
no where else to turn,
nothing left to try.
flow in torrents,
pour in sheets,
send libations,
bring relief;
send the rain to
flood the street.
oh master of
the ocean deep,
pour your liquid,
pour your gold,
a’fore our children
grow too old.
no more saving
for some rainy day,
this to you we pray...
*“pour from heaven’s door,
indulge us with an inundation;
with bounty from your store
deluge us with a liquidation”*
~
*post script
the Western US is experiencing a four-year drought of
epic proportions and with water in such short supply,
family farms are burning up in the heat
with grave consequences looming large
on the not-so-distant horizon.
we witnessed this arid devestation
first hand a week ago traveling through
North and Central California, and
felt in just the tiniest way the crush
of water shortages at all her state
campgrounds. beautiful Shasta Lake
was dry except for a small stream
running through the lake bed...
how very sad; she is not the California
i remember in our last visit.*
Oct 22, 2015
Oct 22, 2015 at 12:19 AM UTC
Folks shopping for a car at a car dealership
is a depressing sight out of the car window.
All the sedentary businesses along route 131
in Michigan were vague. "Distribution Center"
"Shasta Rentals" "Oasis Family Restaurant"
And PEACE in a flowery calligraphy
on the bumper of a gray dodge neon
on the bumper of a red denali.
A maroon sedan.
A silver-blue ford truck.
A pale red camero.
Aug 17, 2015
Aug 17, 2015 at 2:14 PM UTC
On a quiet night when You have time
I wanna share something with You that’s been on My mind
Luv You up drip drip drop
Luv You up drip drip drop
After a relaxing rub to soothe Your day
I just can’t wait to hear You say
Luv Me up drip drip drop
Luv Me up drip drip drop
Everything that’s good to You
That’s what we’re gonna do
Luv You up drip drip drop
Luv You up drip drip drop
I feel the need to fly thru Your ticks of time
And melt / float into Your warm and fuzzy sublime
I feel the need to lick You from Your head to Your feet
After living love and feeling love and willing luv -
we will have to buy new sheets
Hold me tight
Hold me tight
Hold me tight deep inside - squeeze Me
Taste the flood of luv flowing free
A seven course dinner is not enough
You deserve a luv without the b. s. fluff
Luv You up drip drip drop
Luv You up drip drip drop
Your body’s screaming out My name
The Angels in Heaven will never be the same
Luv You up - Luv You up - Luv You up
You’re so sweet I just hafta - - - -
Let it explode like Mount Shasta - - - -
Let Me drink forever at Your loving cup - - - -
Let Me in, let Me in, wrap Me up - - - -
Feb 16, 2018
Feb 16, 2018 at 3:42 PM UTC
.
(
)
(
)
(
)
\/
/\
/ \
##
Little miss Mary tends the fire
// //
Yeah
It is good
•
The soft winds speak of me constantly
If you heard it you would know me
You would know me as the rain
you' d yell out
CALEB
PLEASE COME SAVE ME
IN YOUR MOST MAGNIFICENT WAY !
)(
in the mountIns maidens bathe
Awaiting the young poet boys
••
Waterfall remembrance dream
She was my wife for 30 years
From
Mt Shasta
To
The Bowery
Everyone
One and the same
•
"""""""""""""
• •
/////
The freigh train tune
Homeless children in the alleys
Waiting for the soldier or the police man
)(
( keeping AMERICA safe ! )
)(
In the hospital emergency wards
Children gather
and try explain
Themselves
To
One Another
•
•
•
Such lovely ******* !
I think about them constantly
The wondrous ******* of
What's - her - name
""
And I remember her mom too
God // was she Hot !
••
all the stories written down
The
Hippies !
The have gone home
Except for me
I'm still here
.
May 9, 2016
May 9, 2016 at 11:08 PM UTC
Your stem is crooked — your head will fall
without help. Your neighbour crosses your path
but lends no support.
You must be the only broken thing.
Why?
What hurt you? Did anything hurt you at all? If I could look in the past
Read you like a story
Satisfy the curiosity
— Did you snap
under the weight of a visitor? Or
Is your crown too heavy? Was life too kind; It let you grow fat and happy.
Was life too harsh and you begged for everything on the chance you’d get something at all,
until you had enough, and suddenly found you didn’t know how to stop begging?
There’s no story to read.
I walk away
and don’t think of you
until I’m writing a poem about daisies, and I walk
the same road I’ve walked every day
before — in my mind, in the dark of
my room, with bare feet
wearing a comfortable day dress to bed
because I don’t want to do laundry — and I remember you
I remember spotting you because you were different and
Oh, what a shame: this one is broken
unlike all the others
I had no rush so I stopped and looked
But there was nothing else to see so I kept walking.
This time I do not walk away.
I stop and look
and I think of you,
The broken Shasta Daisy, taller than all the others digging through the pavement
— you will fall further than them all, and you were the only one worth knowing.
Jun 12, 2025
Jun 12, 2025 at 8:42 AM UTC
studious skinny scruffy scribe
Scathing, scolding, screaming,
scorning, searing, sniggering,
sociopathic sarin soaked skewed
squirt, sputtering, squawking, sleepily
staggering, stabbing, swaggering
sweltering sadistic, sarcastic,
savage, systemically systematically
stigmatized, supersized saber sharp
schick shaving, shunned, sabotaged,
scarred, scorched, smote, sanguine,
stippled, speckled schizophrenic
sensibility, spurring, seething,
somewhat stultified, sophisticated,
spellbound spirited scabrous
schlemiel schlemazel, stenciled,
sundered sniveling sanguine storied
snakebitten sojourning ********
skeptical shoddy sophomoric
screwball, subtly sagacious,
stunted, sclerotic, scrappily
shuffling short, Shylock
styled sideburns Semite,
sainted Shasta sipping
shriveled sad sack,
sullenly syncopated, synthesized,
slobbering sybaritic, scruffy
sheepish sketchy scalawag,
Socratically scrutinizing, seizure
stricken, stoically sneezing,
shamed Skidrow skeezer, shifty,
sweaty, sham shaman,
supremely spidery, schmaltzy,
sylan seeking subsidized succor,
self shuttered, sequestered,
sidelined, shiftless, shabby,
semantically snazzy, soldiering,
shrieking, skulking, somber,
stooping, Segway scootering,
schmart spendthrift, Swahili
speaking, straitlaced, streamlined,
spongebobbing, sandal shod
sealegs, squarepants sporting
spectacles, sedate, sensate,
sentient, ship shaped,
shanghaied, salubrious,
slithering, snakish, stuttering,
sluggish, smashface scarred,
sober, solitary, sangfroid
skidamarink singing, Shamokin
speaking scrivener, scuzzy,
spunky, starved, submissively
suicidal, sunburned,
salaried shuffling senescent
snoutish soundcloud shutterflying
snapchatting schnorrer.
Sep 1, 2019
Sep 1, 2019 at 4:32 PM UTC
she was a teacher
with a heart the size
of a mountain.
I set my sights for its peak-
as many others have
only to find myself
gasping for air.
Feb 13, 2019
Feb 13, 2019 at 12:51 AM UTC
7 AM this morning the Internet went out.
Streaming TV stopped iPhone too.
All day long, Internet outage wreaked havoc on the shops in the city.
Stores could not process ATM cards
Banks could not give you any money
Incoming outgoing calls dropped
We don’t realize how dependent we are
Spectrum, quoted verbatim
Internet disrupted in Redding due to vandalism. Spectrum confirms.
This is the second time in three months
Spectrum Internet down, in Shasta County
they continue “our fiber lines were cut
this morning as a result of vandalism in Redding. Affecting communities through
Shasta County. Due to the vandalism we
had to repair more than 850 strands of fiber optics to restore our service. Outage from
7 AM fully Restored 4:30 PM”
I speculate This experiment was an exercise
The effects of pulling down just Internet,
without taking out the power.
Without Internet use, the city fell
The funny thing is, the three notifications I received from Spectrum. I did not get until after the Internet was fully restored.
Not trying to be a conspiracy theories
One cannot help but wonder if this has anything to do with voting early?
Or was this a trial run for
a bigger outage on election day?
Bank your vote
Make a note
Vote early get it done
Tell your friends, everyone
Inspired songs
1) The telephone line
by electric light Orchestra(ELO) 1976
2) operator by Jim Croce 1972
3) telephone Man by Meri Wilson 1977
Oct 12, 2024
Oct 12, 2024 at 10:34 PM UTC