Poetry Offerings From Barry Jeffers | Poem

 

Poetry Offerings From Barry Jeffers

This Way    You come down from Ruth     in a little over two hours.     You follow the Mad     then go over the hill,     one mile as the crow flies,     to the van Duzen     all the way down to the Eel     then you follow that north,     home.     In the cabin at Ruth     a blood-red saddle blanket     is folded lengthwise, once,    and laid across the foot of the bed.     I can see it from here.     I came down this road     what other could it be    but the right one.

 

For Reidun, In The Light
 

In the gorge at Olduvai
the ash along the green lake
holds the print
as it has for all the children's lifetimes

holds the print of the man
then following woman
along the lake
in the gorge
in the ash of the volcano
the track as he wanted her
would trade his skins tools
weapons for her
his fire

for her would have taken her
green and deep O sweet light reflecting
she is more
than scent and urge
muscle and limb she is that
and she is
in perfect light, the rising
impossible moon.

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Maybe
 

He is only a man in a field
far from home.
Above him, the clouds of August
crush the hills.

Maybe
it will rain.

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Yes
 

Sunlight
climbs stone stairs through the trees.
I go that way.

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Nine Eleven

 

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Short bio:

I'm a 57 year old car salesman who has also: washed dishes, been a busboy
and a bartender, treeplanter, greenchain boardpuller in a lumber mill,
flowerpicker, detail guy at a dealership, maintenace man at Harrahs in
Tahoe, track gang worker on the railroad, real estate salesman, water
treatment operator, mobile home salesman, technical stock market analyst,
pizza cook, and for 8 years an English teacher at Large Corporations in
Japan. Plus some other stuff. An average Humboldt County resume.

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to Moongate

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