Danger on Peaks Read Online Free Page A

California, Drake repaired his ship, established contact with local Indians, explored inland, took on supplies and water, and claimed the region for Queen Elizabeth.”

    Along the roadside yarrow, scotch broom, forbs,
    hills of layered angled boughs like an Edo woodcut,
    rare tree — bishop pine — storm-tuned,
    blacktop roadbed over the native Miwok path
    over the early ranches “M” and “Pierce”
    â€” a fox dives into the brush,
    wind-trimmed chaparral and
    estuary salt marsh, leaning hills,
    technically off the continent,
    out on the sea-plate, “floating island.”

    â€” Came down from inland granite and
    gold-bearing hills           madrone and cedar;
    & from ag-fields laser land-levelers,
    giant excavators — subdivision engineers
    â€œCalifornia” hid behind the coastal wall of fog

    Drake saw a glimpse of brown dry grass and gray-green pine,
    came into a curve of beach. Rowed ashore,
    left a scat along the tideline, cut some letters in an oak.

    The “G” Ranch running Herefords,
    Charley Johnson growing oysters
    using a clever method from Japan,
    and behind the fog wall
    sunny grassy hills and swales
    filled with ducks and tules.

    Cruising down the narrow road-ridge
    one thing we have together yet:
    this Inglis — this Mericano tongue.
    â€” Drake’s Bay cliffs like Sussex —
    gray and yellow siltstone, mudstone, sandstone,
    undulating cliffs and valleys — days of miles of fog.

    Gray-mottled bench boards lichen.
    Sea gulls flat down sun-warmed
    parking lot by cars.
    We offer to the land and sea,
    a sierra-cup of Gallo sherry,
    and eat a Johnson’s oyster from the jar,

    offer a sip of Sack to the Captain
    and
an oyster raw:
    a salute, a toast to Sir Francis Drake
    from the land he never saw.

S UMMER OF ’97

    West of the square old house, on the rise that was made
    when the pond was dug; where we once slept out;
    where the trampoline sat,

    Earth spirit please don’t mind
    If cement trucks grind
    And plant spirits wait a while
    Please come back and smile

    Ditches, lines and drains
    Forms and pours and hidden doors
    The house begins:

    Sun for power
    Cedar for siding
    Fresh skinned poles for framing
    Gravel for crunching and
    Bollingen for bucks —

    Daniel peeling
    Moth for singing
    Matt for pounding
    Bruce for pondering
    Chuck for plumbering
    David drywalling
    staining, crawling;
    Stu for drain rock
    Kurt for hot wire
    Gary for cold beer
    Carole for brave laugh
    til she leaves,
    crew grieves,

    Gen for painting
    each window frame
    Gen-red again

    Garden cucumbers for lunch
    Fresh tomatoes crunch
    Tor for indoor paints and grins
    Ted for rooftiles
    Tarpaper curls
    Sawdust swirls
    Trucks for hauling
    Barrels for burning
    Old bedrooms disappearing

    Wild turkeys watching
    Deer disdainful
    Bullfrogs croaking,

    David Parmenter for bringing
    flooring oak at night
    Though his mill burned down
    He’s still coming round.

    Cyndra tracing manzanita
    On the tile wall shower,
    Sliding doors
    Smooth new floors —

    Old house a big hall now
    Big as a stable
    To bang the mead-stein on the table
    Robin got a room to write a poem,
    & no more nights out walking to the john.

    Carole finally coming home
    Peeking at her many rooms.
    Oak and pine trees looking on
    Old Kitkitdizze house now
    Has another wing —

    So we’ll pour a glass and sing —
    This has been fun as heaven
    Summer of ninety-seven.

R EALLY THE R EAL
    for Ko Un and Lee Sang-wha

    Heading south down the freeway making the switch
    from Business 80 east to the 1-5 south,
    watch those signs and lanes that split
    duck behind the trucks, all going 75 at 10 am
    I tell Ko Un this is the road that runs from Mexico to Canada, right past
    San Diego — LA — Sacramento — Medford — Portland — Centralia —
    Seattle — Bellingham, B.C. all the way,
    the new suburban projects with cement roof