THE ASHLAND POET

Every year during the week after Christmas my family gets together in Ashland for a few days to celebrate the holidays.  My son and his family come up from South Lake Tahoe, my daughter and her family come down from Portland and their mother comes down from Salem.   One evening this year my son, his wife and grandson Connor were kicking a soccer ball in the park near the center of the city.  I was off to the side watching when a young woman walked by me asking how I was doing?   She may have been 40, well dressed and did not look homeless.   She was carry a bag of poems and asked if I would want to buy one as she was trying to collect enough money to buy a pizza for her boyfriend and her self.  I became a little suspicious, but I asked her to read one.   The poems were written on brown paper that I think was cut from brown paper bags.   She took one of the poems from the bag and recited to me.   As she started it reminded me of my loss of Celia and brought tears to my eyes.  I don't recall all of it, but it started out--searching in solace for what we've all lost.  Not hearing those haunting sounds, not alone in our souls...  I do have the little brown papers of the poems but find it hard to read.   I told her it reminded me of the loss of my wife, she was very sympathetic and gave me a second poem.  I gave her $20 in hopes she would buy the pizza and hopefully not drugs as she walked off.    In some ways she made my day and I hope I contributed to hers'.  

 

THE HOLIDAY FOG

 Lately the fog has been formidable.   The other night I was visiting with friends in Oakland.    It was about 9 pm when I started my way home through dense fog.   Oakland is a small town with most of its streets going north and south and east and west.    My intended route home was to take a street west turn north on old highway 99, cross the Calapooya Creek bridge and take the Green Valley Road home.   At this time of night there is never any traffic on this route so it is considered a safe drive.    Driving west in Oakland I somehow missed seeing the stop sign where I would turn north on highway 99 and ended up on a dead end gravel road near the railroad tracks.    While turning around I had the fear of getting stuck not knowing what the ground was like off of this little gravel road.   Miraculously I made it to highway 99 and it took a half hour to finally get home through the dense fog.   When I arrived home I discovered my black cat was on the roof .  I had left the ladder up on the deck to apply moss killer and the cat had climbed it but would not come back down without my assistance.   After putting gloves on and climbing the ladder I grabbed the cat and got her down without a catastrophe.   Felt like a survivor at the end of this day. 

CHRISTMAS 2023

The holiday season can be a time of despair and loneliness for those of us without family close by and the loss of a loved one.   We think the sooner it's over the better off we will feel.    Then those Christmas cards and letters start arriving from friends and family members far and near telling of their joys and sorrows over the past year.  Some have suffered health problems or loss of a loved one also.    This makes me feel not so alone and the need to reach out.   We all are so wrapped up in our own worlds, fighting our own battles that we can't see through the fog of our own despair what our neighbors, friends and family members are going through.   Maybe if we all reached out to each other there would be more hope in the world and less hatred, anger, injustice and war.   Without hope there can be no peace.  

Merry Christmas!

CHRISTMAS 2022

It's that time of year to be jolly, get into the holiday spirit and overlook family dysfunctions.   In my old age I feel more like scourge this time of year, but getting gifts for the grandchildren saves me from total despair.   One habit I have taken up over the years of living here is to take a picture of the Christmas tree standing in the middle of Oakland, and sending it out by email to family and friends in place of Christmas cards.  Sure saves on postage and a good way to get a response from old friends and distant relatives scattered across the country.   

  

   Merry Christmas from Oakland, Oregon!

Christmas 2020

 MERRY CHRISTMAS from the empty streets of Oakland and hopefully a better new year.