Shelton - Washington State Poem
By Matthew Harris
County seat, of Mason County,
Washington, United States
Westernmost city on Puget Sound
above ground sans tectonic plates
Population 9,834 per 2010 census
end result from biological mates
maintains commission form
of government drafted by mandates.
Shelton served by small steamboats
comprising Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet
Old Settler, Irene, Willie, City
of Shelton, Marian, Clara Brown,
& S.G. Simpson logging, farming,
dairying, ranching & oyster cultivation
for populace to eat Simpson Timber
Company mill on Puget Sound’s
Oakland Bay over yonder
dominates landscape of the down
town area as essential heart beat
Shelton identifies the “Christmas
Tree Capital” sold by the ton.
47°12′49″N 123°6′22″W (47.213702,
-123.106088)coordinate bench mark
total area of 5.9 square miles (15 km2) ,
of which 5.6 square miles (15 km2)land
0.3 square miles (0.78 km2)(5.60%)
water laps with an occasional errant shark
in a pinch captured, processed and canned
a delicacy that fin de siecle bony
illegal booty fined by the oceanic narc.
well nigh two plus decades in the past
this poet trekked across America
beginning in a place called gap
Pennsylvania – where stockpile
of Amish goodies barely did last,
and vanished in a gingerly snap
of fingers, which necessitated
sustenance when van fueled
i.e. gassed up while myself or,
other driver stole a short nap
seduced to sleep by syncopated
tires as highway miles passed
inching closer to youngest sister
via this linear transcontinental lap
destination Seattle Washington
indigenous iconic statue cast.
Ronald Strickland a fine prairie
home companion, and Boone storyteller
ma age then (five decades plus two)
he tried to rake in loot writing
about his travels, yet unpretentious
and, no square at root perhaps one day,
I will surprise him cawing him a toot
though on might deign to bellow
while atop the snow capped Mount Rainier
Taking in the august magic
crystalline beauty all year round:
whereat snowfall etches silhouette
once dusk shed daylight sketching
in natural bas relief ascension
from horizon to heavenly height
albedo effect from glistening snow light
luminescence transforming night
into blinding sight
from pure flakes of incandescent white.