Sunday, December 22, 2013

POEM - When the Mountain Explodes It’s Time to Leave: 1980

We lived in the right direction
The cloud of ash went east
Eventually circling the globe
We were watching
From the Southern side
Only a dusting
Of mineral rich volcanic dust
Instead of getting choked out
The dusting made our crops grow
Much larger than the year before

I would sit out in the front yard
Watch the plume shooting up
 Filling the sky above
Over the belching wreckage
Of Mount St. Helens
The perfect vantage point

And as cool as that was
It couldn't keep us in Oregon
Summer found us on the move
I got to ride alone with dad
In the big yellow Ryder truck
Over the rolling hills
Of Interstate 84
We skirted dangerously close
To the wilds of Walla Walla
Before diving Southward
To cut through Idaho
On our way to Utah

Dad had a line on a job
A teaching gig in Salt Lake
So we hung around
Just long enough
To start fourth grade
Before deciding to pick up again
High tail it to greener pastures
Which was more figurative
Than actual
As we ended up in the desert
Surrounding Phoenix Arizona
That people foolish called a city
And despite the oppressive heat
We stuck around finally
Made the wasteland our home
Started slowly laying down roots

In the impenetrable caliche’ 






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