Orick, CA, Bald Hills Road:
deer appear and disappear
like drifts of powdery snow,
plastic bags cling to barbed wire,
collect in drift-fence rows —
Prices Always Low at Wal-Mart.
Cemetery, Fortuna, CA, US 101:
bouquet of Peace roses scatters past
a headstone marked “Baby Long,”
spills over “Killed In France” —
red tail hawk calls someone home.
Abandoned school, Arcata, CA, S St:
yellow nylon rope on rusted flagpole,
metal clasp’s irregular clang —
motherless calf on the playground.
Humboldt Bay, CA, SR 1:
clouds scuttle by, run the sky —
brush strokes of family portraits.
Storm steals silence from the night:
tide’s meter waves the wind.
This article appears in Dreams of Obama.