We walk west under a hunter’s moon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I search the morning sky for the comet<\/p>\n\n\n\n
that won’t pass through these parts again<\/p>\n\n\n\n
for 80,000 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Forty-thousand years ago,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Neanderthals were making art in caves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Will any human sit around a campfire<\/p>\n\n\n\n
to see this comet upon its return?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unlikely, I think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I once met a homeless man<\/p>\n\n\n\n
who lived in a cave,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
on Nesika Beach,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
his domicile<\/p>\n\n\n\n
carved from a sandy cliff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I built him a driftwood fort<\/p>\n\n\n\n
for better accommodations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He invited me to share his fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We pass deflated Halloween decorations,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ghosts, goblins and witches,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
looking like dead soldiers<\/p>\n\n\n\n
commanded by the Masters of War.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two raccoons hunchback across the trail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They stop and turn our direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Elmer the husky rears like a stallion<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and almost pulls me over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We pass the picnic table<\/p>\n\n\n\n
where a young homeless man<\/p>\n\n\n\n
often sits under a cedar,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
in silence, in darkness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He’s not there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Below us, the amusement park<\/p>\n\n\n\n
rises not bold and stark,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
but bleak and bright, (yes, a strange dichotomy)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
lit up by lights,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
prison illumination,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
from sentinel towers<\/p>\n\n\n\n
erected to dissuade<\/p>\n\n\n\n
the homeless from camping<\/p>\n\n\n\n
in the willows near the river.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The towers even talk,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
warnings in monotone,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
one-syllable words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A man wearing a hoodie<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and plaid pajama bottoms<\/p>\n\n\n\n
approaches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I say good morning<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n and catch a glimpse<\/p>\n\n\n\n of Portland’s skyline blinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The man says nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Elmer and I continue on our way,<\/p>\n\n\n\n out of the park,<\/p>\n\n\n\n past a series of derelict cars,<\/p>\n\n\n\n homes for the homeless,<\/p>\n\n\n\n the \u201cBum Brigade\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n as a resident described it<\/p>\n\n\n\n to me one morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Will I ever take a walk<\/p>\n\n\n\n in the morning with Elmer<\/p>\n\n\n\n and not think about the homeless?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We walk west under a hunter’s moon. I search the morning sky for the comet that won’t pass through these parts again for 80,000 years. Forty-thousand years ago, Neanderthals were making art in caves. Will any human sit around a campfire to see this comet upon its return? Unlikely, I think. I once met a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9185,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-meditations","category-poetry","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","has-post-comment","has-post-author",""],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9184\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}