I Added Zoom to the Room...

As Halloween approached

that first year in the City,

I figured it was time to add

some Zoom to the Room...

So I found this yellow, paper,

toxics cleanup suit in a Army-Navy

Surplus store up Mission Street...

Somebody else in our department

organized the Contest,

I just showed up, AND, guess what?

I won "Pick of the Patch"!

AND I was kept around

as a Graphics Manager

for 9 more seasons...

Pretty cool, huh?

This graphic I also did

in the Los Medanos class in 2002...

©Peter Bray, 2/9/10 All rights reserved

I Landed in San Francisco...

It was too great a title

not to at least start

and add some graphics to...

These I did years later

in a web design class

at Los Medanos College in Pittsburgh

in 2002, while learning animation

which I thought I might add to my

post-Bechtel SF career...

Interestingly enough, by this time

I was tiptoe-ing out of my 50's

and into my 60's, they were getting

closer by the day...I'll be back

to expand the story...

or maybe not...Let your imagination

fill in the blanks...

After the Loma Prieta Earthquake of 1989

I rode the ferry to the City for 6 months.

It was awesome...

©Peter Bray, 2/9/10 All rights reserved

Bodega Bay Song...

Well, I don't smoke and I rarely drink,

the most I do is sit and think,

sweat and fret and worry hard

about how to make the payments

on my car...

But I ain't worrying on this day,

'cause we're down at Bodega Bay!

Bodega Bay, Bodega Bay, Bodega Bayyyyy...

Bodega...Bay!

Maybe see a woman, maybe catch a fish,

maybe make a big ol' wish!

But I ain't worrying on this day,

'cause we're down at Bodega Bay...

Bodega Bay, Bodega Bay, Bodega Bayyyyy...

Bodega...Bay!

No, No, No...I ain't worryin' and I ain't skeered,

though my friends think I'm pretty weird!

But I ain't worryin' on this day,

'cause we're down at Bodega Bay...

Bodega Bay, Bodega Bay, Bodega Bayyyy,

Bodega...Bay!

©Peter Bray, 1985 & 2020 All rights reserved

In The Beginning...

That's all there was,

and it was a kick in the pants...

And I still had time

for high school homework...

Amazing...

Las Lomas, 1956-'60

Walnut Creek, CA

(Good enough to get me into

UC Berkeley in the Fall of '63)

Laid Off American Man...

I do windows, I do floors,

I do hallways, I do doors,

I do anything I can,

I'm a Laid Off American Man...

I'm a product of the bottom line,

everybody says 'it's gonna be fine'

so come on down

to the Unemployment Line,

we'll have a little party

at the end of the line...

I was a VP in charge of BD...

I was an acronym in the company hymn,

a journeyman in the company plan,

now all my tools are in a one-man van...

I do windows, I do floors,

I do hallways, I do doors,

I do anything I can,

I'm a Laid Off American Man...

With a Mission Statement

and cellular phone,

a corporate watch

and a company loan,

I was a VP in charge of BD...

My severance pay was a big handshake,

I'm on the road for as long as it takes,

I was a VP in charge of BD...

Now I'm a gardener in the Promised Land,

all my tools are in a one-man van,

I do windows, I do floors,

I do hallways, I do doors,

I do anything I can,

I'm a Laid Off American Man...

I'm a Laid Off American Man...

©Peter Bray, 1994 & 2010 All rights reserved

Colitis Blue...

Prednisone Joan on the telephone

was talking to a man named Gene,

saying, "I'm so tired of Colitis,

I think they're gonna paint me green..."

Gene says, "Green, I know what ya mean,

I'm tired of Colitis too, all the words in my head,

all the words in my head are under the bed,

'cause I've got Colitis too, and I'm so tired,

I'm so tired, I'm so tired of being Colitis Blue..."

Gene says to Joan on the telephone,

"Here's what we're gonna do:

We're gonna watch what we eat

and watch what we drink,

and watch what we put in the stew,

'cause I'm so tired, I'm so tired,

I'm so tired of being Colitis Blue..."

A gastroenterologist and a sigmoidoscopy

were meeting in the middle sayin',

"What else can we see?"

’Cause they're so tired of being,

they're so tired of being,

we're ALL so damn tired of being...Colitis Blue!

©Peter Bray, 1989 All rights reserved

Like a Knife Thrown Into Barnwood...

Like a knife thrown into barnyard wood,
you get pretty good at it...
You know the weight and balance of the knife,
know the hurricane sharpness of its point

and the flash of its steel...
and you keep it that way, like surgical steel,

stainless steel...
Know how to grind it down on the wheel,

grind it to a fine point,
keep it balanced like an aerodynamic missile...

flip it just right, across the barnyard air,

not far from the metal horse trough,
the white-washed buildings, over the

cow manure dust, the heat and memories

of my summers' youth, even dodge the whizz
of the dragonflies or invite them in to watch,
them and their busy dragonfly eyes...

"Watch this..." you say, and flip it once,

twice, three times, twenty-four times, thirty-two...

each time across the barnyard, a few early ones

go high or low or errant, a few are lost until

you get right on target and the barnyard wood finally says,
"OK! I got the picture...so you know how to WRITE!...

Go back to bed..."And so I do...mood nearly over...I'm spent...

and the barn/house/corral dust of my grandparents' farm

settles back down into my memory of being 12 again

and I'm wondering if I could still stick this knife into

that barnwood shed over there...And I do...

Mission accomplished one more time...

©Peter Bray, 2009 and 1/30/10 All rights reserved