oregon is too much beauty

the oregon coast is too much beauty it took several hours to travel a hundred miles
along the panoramic stops, the winding mountain
roads, thru valleys where one side
of the sky is gray and one blue.
i've splurged on a beachfront room,
i'm in an airey, almost to the top.
and of course, wifi hits me here.
the dunes are worth a thousand words.
i hope i see stars tonite.
the sun's still high in the sky
i've a one bedroom split level looking south
the pacific rolls just like the atlantic
only there's more beach and a tidepool.

today was driving driving but back roads
and sloughs. forgive me but i have to go
check out the sand. look for a mermain.

o and we saw a whale hump and spout
at the top of otter crest. i know
where i want to go to die now.































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i'm sitting on agate beach. how i stopped here
was spellbinding and lush; a flutterbys' roost.
there's a delta and burnt wood, dunes where
sand sifts a mirage, a candled botany of motion.
newport. i like to remember names. they have no
thai restaurants in this town but many pizza joints.
go figure. i had taco bell on the balcony, the sky
was bright blue and bruised. they say rain
is expected somewhere. an hour to go 25 miles.

we stopped in hebe. corner store on a curve
the clerk didn't card the gray haired woman in front
of me for her smokes, but made a joke
about making her day anyway. i don't understand
small talk in the 21st cent . i smile and pay with cash.
i'm hungry. the next town is miles away.

we roll thru farm land, bordered by boulders
that loom earthquake. tsunami zone signs in friendly
blue and white pock the drive semi frequently.
semi concerned i think of looking up earthquake
activity on the west coast this week. and hasn't
the tide been out all day, after all? the stars
blur with my writing glasses. the other ones

blur these words, these substitutes for experience
yesterday i would have gone to the beach
walked to the shadow of black cast by the cliff
two hundred yards away. but today i'm perched
on the 3rd floor, debating the cold
and it's winning.

how would i survive in canada?
i'd keep moving.









































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i went to see the stars after all. j woke up
and i got the suitcase with the winter clothes
we overdressed, 4 layers. the milky way
and shooting stars. i thought of the leonids.
of my mother. lost my glasses in the dunes
got a penlight, found them. goats head soup
rules the sky. no moon. we want chocklate but it's so late.
i'm sleepy. the beach at nite wore me out.