I rode my motorcycle to Ventura
today,
seeing Kern County more
sharply,
through the eyes and words of a
poet.
Sat up straighter in the saddle
so I could observe it all.
A.C.
It’s not unusual
to go about our busy lives, looking but not seeing. Objects that are a part of
our landscape become all too familiar and fade into the background, become
invisible. Wallpaper, pieces of decor, the front door, people’s faces, a route
that we travel. It may be days or weeks before we notice changes.
What does it take
to bring about awareness? For me, it was Bakersfield poet Don Thompson’s
book-length narrative poem, Local Color, in which he shares his love of the
southern San Joaquin Valley. Kern County in particular. Stories of real and
imaginary people show up on the pages as he celebrates where we live and
provides us with a greater sense of place.
With Don’s poem
and his voice resounding in my head, I took off on Big Red for a ride to
Ventura. At Wheeler Ridge, I looked for evidence of the poppies, but it’s late
in the spring, and they are, as Don put it, “. . . scraped from the land now .
. .”.
I noticed the
changes at General Edward Beale’s Tejon Ranch. Once cattle land, the buzz and
whirr of construction replace the gentle sounds of the herds. Coming Soon! an outlet mall!
Once over the
Grapevine, in my mind’s eye, I could see Christo’s bright yellow umbrellas sprinkled on the hillsides.
Recognition
clicked as I approached the road sign for Lebec, the little town over the
Grapevine, named for local legend, Peter Lebeck. Though I’d passed this way
hundreds of times, and wondered about what ‘Lebec’ represented (on the days I
was paying attention), Don’s poem brought it to life.
We
talk about being ‘in the moment.’ Sometimes it takes a new awareness or a
poetic reminder pushing us to see the world before us, compelling us to view it
afresh. Proust was correct, “The real
voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new
eyes.”
~ xoA ~
