I Live in Olympia
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Hands On Children’s Museum
In the yard the children run to and fro
Kicking like Michelangelo.
Heroes…
In a half-shell
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Dispute Resolution Center
Ask three questions
The sun peeks
Warily
Through cloud veils
I see you.
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China Clipper
The drinks are strong,
The night is long
And then you ask,
Is this thing on?
A little cough,
The music starts
You are not a little off.
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Heritage Fountain
A day will come when the sun will shine
And the people search for water.
They will find it here.
(Except on Wednesdays)
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Corner of 5th and Water Street
Dear Hop King of the World,
Don’t let us forget
The struggle, the ache, the disease, and the dust,
Onward, yes, onward, yes, onward we must.
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Olympia Film Society
I’m trying to learn to be unspecific
A cormorant atop an old piling,
Matte-blackness unfurled
Closing credit reveries
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Browsers Books
I look down at feet
Leaves shuffle past as heels strike
Stumble and books fly
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Falcone's Bicycle Center
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"It's an automatic door!"
Shouted three gruff voices in unison as we tried to pry it open. We find out it only opens from the inside, and once we are inside, we keep opening the damn thing.
No matter though.
It doesn't stop Jim for a second as he walks me through the defects of my potential new "department store" Schwinn. He gets out his little tube of grease and checks all the connections. Would you look at this, the wires are crossed. Oh, Walmart bikes, the people in the factory just throw them in the box and then the people who buy them don't know how to read instructions.
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It's a bike. It'll be fine cruising around the neighborhood. Just watch out on the Chehalis Western, those guys on their speed bikes get going forty miles and hour and they don't stop for no one.
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He tells me his plan to do a little extra without charging me. I'm mentally deciding whether it's worth it to actually buy this bike, and I decide I think it's cute and I don''t have to make a decision because it was plunked right down in front of me by a coworker. That's nice. It makes me feel good to not have to research and think about this purchase.
And I'll have a bike.
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And he gave me twelve more stories to share. The best is a cautionary tale about a crash. Jim was wearing his helmet but it did a hell of a lot of damage. Brain trauma. Brought to Harborview. He cracked a lot of jokes as he told this well-worn story about
Ford Bronco busting. He has twelve grandkids and has probably shared with all of them. Most of them probably had to live through it. It only happened four years ago. He wore a helmet, though, so he's not dead. I sure am glad about that.
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And in the moment he was struck he had an epiphany, "That's what beige smells like."
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