Decades of Light

Seattle Lights in Winter

Through a 17th story window,/Febraury clouds crawl/above the twilight harbor --/their underbellies in flames/with the waning sun/that turns Elliot Bay to burgundy./A Belltown evening wakes early/with the Pink Elephant splashing/green neon from its revolving sign/and the ferris wheel/at Seattle Center flashing/crimson and gold spokes./I-5 spirals in ruby/and opal necklaces/of tail lights going north-south/by the indigo/of Lake Union./A thousand windows/on Queen Anne hill shine/like jeweled eyes,/as the Space Needle/stands in sentinel height --/its signal winking/like a red iris.

Hard Traveling

I remember that Saturday, April 1966;/some college friends and I/were hitching to Cincinnati/near where my parents lived./As we left Hanover, Indiana,/the radio was playing/"Walking My Cat Named Dog" --/its harmonica riff,/a slice of sun through cloudy sky. I don't know what my father/was doing that weekend --/probably listening to Joe Nuxhall,/the voice of the Reds,/and cheering them on./My mother would shut the door/against his stadium interludes/and turn up the Mozart. We had come to get drunk/on 3.2 beer and dance/the "Alligator" at the "Nebish"./That night we caroused/our 18 year old bravado on the street/until a patrolman suggested/we join the Army. It was strange to be eight miles/from my parents and unacknowledged./We slept in a $10 a night hotel/in a neighborhood of grimy red brick./The next day I wished/I could call my Dad,/as we stood in a flood tide rain/in Lawrenceburg, Indiana/and tried to catch a ride west. Finally, a car splashed/to a stop. We got in and/The Walker Brothers were singing:/"The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore".