Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The North Coast times-eagle. (Wheeler, Oregon) 1971-2007 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 1, 2006)
PAGE 8 AM ER It never mattered that there was once a vast grieving: trees on their hillsides, in their groves, weeping — a plastic gold dropping through seasons and centuries to the ground — until now: On this fine September afternoon from which you are absent I am holding, as if my hand could store it, an ornament of amber you once gave me. Reason says this: The dead cannot see the living. The living will never see the dead again. The clear air we need to find each other in is gone forever, yet this resin collected seeds, leaves, and even small feathers as it fell and fell, HAL ALLEN (FOR ‘THE COLUMBIA PRESS’, 1979) which now in a sunny atmosphere seem as alive as they ever were, as though the past could be present and memory itself a Baltic honey — PUBLIC NOTICE a chafing at the edges of the seen, a showing off of just how much can be kept safe God is one of those wrinkled and shriveled old ladies with soft pink skin who after long years of broken and scabby nails has won the lottery and no longer has to save coupons in an old mason jar next to the black dial phone by the kitchen sink inside a flawed translucence. NURSING THE IRAQIS -EAVAN BOLAND she doesn’t think anyone remembers her failed children or the station wagon ticking and humming its way to a slow death in the supermarket lot as she stood and screamed at the poor machine which had no real name after she had finally bought it new tires it had no more places to go this poor woman who is almost dead smokes three packs a day and her nails are a perfect pink but the smell of oil lingers and on her left wrist a burn scar left by the man who fathered the children who took from her her life Here’s how I learned their tongue: “Sadeeq! Sagheer ousissiya (small operation)” — he goggled at me — “La alam! La alam! (No pain)”— took the edge off the fear— we had no translators — infallible DoD. That came from a Berlitz book, a nightly task, after the wounds, the unrelenting bums had had their run... We must have seemed to be mad. Doctors chanting on rounds, nurses warbling, corpsmen speaking tongues, never since Babel such an overflow of sounds. One phrase — “Salaam Alaykum” — stilled every alarm: it showed in the face, the terror yanked like a mask — no one who knew God’s name could mean them harm. 5 9 l i b 3 f l t 1' How does life treat you? Do you like where you live? Do you ask for a hand from someone else? when you can do it for yourself? Are you happy, successfully joyed with the path you choose to walk? t » I I I » I Can you live today like it’s the last day of one's life, feeling successfully loving for others, as well as yourself? If you think there are good people out in the world, does it start with you? Would you open your heart and home to someone that needs just your help? What time of the day do you take for your self and your mind? Can you walk away from negative, with a positive outlook? In bad times of life, what makes you smile? Will you have courtesy for others and with yourself? Where do you go, just to be by yourself? If you trust someone, will they give it to you? Do you worry about how people think of you and what they might say? If you see a hand holding out to you, will you take and go with it, not knowing where you will go? If you try to run from life’s normal problems, do you think of different ways to go about problems that life hands you? If you were told to leave and not to return, would you? If someone came up to you that you had never met, and asked for your last breath of life, how would you react to them? Are other people important to you, how they live their lives day to day? If you had a chance to stop time, just for yourself, what timeline would you want? If at all? If someone broke your trust, one day they needed you, would you help? Why lie to people, do you not want to hear your own truth? If life is what you make it, why make it hard? If you think of people far from you, are you there with them? I I I I I I Do you trust yourself enough to love yourself, as you try to care for others? Do decisions you make impact how you live life? where she eats rice pudding and drinks a tall glass of rye whiskey slowly to assure her level judgment » Do you think about immortality of yourself and/or loved ones' last days? How do your friends treat you and yours? i wouldn't want the job or even to meet this woman i don’t want to touch her powdered leathery face or stare into her eyes if I have to at all i want the meet her at breakfast I -DAGO MAC (8/19/1941) -FREDERICK FOOTE Do you spend time with your elders? I Red Wine soaked brain I am ready now for A l’s Hammer I will smoke opium and write books for kids LONG THOUGHTS OF LIFE the position of god only opens once every ten years to be filled by the most confused candidate in a manner of tradition the universe attempts to be an equal opportunity employer it let a man begin the thing a woman carry it through (I : I I I 65! she sits with her feet in a tub of water and listens all day to summaries of lives spent in a world she understood quite well before she turns it over to the proper authorities Do you stop, think and then react to the problems that are put in your path? If you hide, are you really hidden? Do you make the same mistakes more than others? Why change what you have, if you can learn from it? Do you accept things you can’t change, overall? Are children the interlightment of light of faith? it takes all of her time to decide what to do with the end of a life that she can’t get to you when you’re alive she’s got a lot to do here and she’s not into long-range planning like her life down here she lives eternity like tuesday all day long no one ever told her if her position was permanent In walks of life, you have walls blocking your path. Can you change direction like walking on a comer of a sidewalk? If you try to understand more about life, the brighter it becomes. Love one another as you would your own child. Do you stand up for things that mean your respect for life? Do you know your body, mind and soul, understanding the power of three? As you get older year after year, do you try to live your goals and dreams of a child? Are you trying to set a good example for older and young people around you? -AMY LEWIS i* Thank you for the time to read my words. Please pass off to others. -LYNDA OWENS Lynda Owens is an Astoria woman living a Northwest life in the woods and aboard Pacific Ocean fish boats.
