James Lee Jobe
Photo
courtesy of William Lee Jobe |
James Lee Jobe has been published in Manzanita, Tule
Review, Pearl, and many other periodicals. His poems are
also included in The Sacramento Anthology: 100 Poems; Jewel
of the Valley: A California Anthology, and How to Be This
Man: The Walter Pavlich Memorial Anthology. He edited and
published the poetry journals, Clan of the Dog and One
Dog Press. He is a producer of radio commercials in
Sacramento and lives in Davis, California with his wife and
children. What God Said When She Finally Answered Me
(Rattlesnake Press) is his fourth chapbook. Jim can be reached
at
clan_of_the_dog@yahoo.com
James Lee Jobe Poems
Redbud Trail - Winter
It’s two muddy miles from Highway 20,
just past the north fork of Cache Creek, across the broad meadow,
through blue oak woodland, up, up to the ridge, and back down to the
creek bank, the crossing point, me striding with mud caking my old
hiking boots.
For a millennia the Miwok people walked
these canyons and ridges. Pomo, too.
Gathering acorns to trade, the sweetest
was said to be from the Coastal Live Oaks.
Or bringing down a mule deer, a Tule elk, meat for everyone, garments or
a drumskin from the hide, tools from the bones, a knife, a skewer,
thanks given to the beast’s soul for its gift.
Once up on the ridge, the view takes me, Brushy Sky High Mountain looms
above like an overanxious parent, the creek sings old songs for the
valley oaks, for the deer grass.
Less muddy, I kick my boots a little cleaner on a rock that is maybe as
old as the earth.
I used to come up here and cut sage for burning, a smudge to carry my
prayers to Her in smoke.
I grow sage now at my home, but still I come, eating down by the creek,
building a medicine wheel from creek stones, in winter spreading a small
tarp across the mud to eat and sleep on. I make prayers for my mother,
to fight the cancer inside her, for my children to know peace and
plenty, prayers that I might find the right way.
The Pomo, the Miwok, the Patwin
were all basket-weavers, makers
of intricate designs from White Root,
Willow, Oak sticks. Gathered here,
at this crossing, century after century.
Medicine too, from roots, bark, and nut, prayers and songs offered up,
thanks given.
Here. Medicine that healed the hurts
the Earth caused, but could not ward off the diseases the Europeans
brought.
The people died by the thousands;
where are their spirits now?
At peace with the creek, I hope,
and I send a little prayer to them, too.
I take an apple from my pack,
bought at a Davis, California grocery store, where the Patwin village
Poo-tah-toi once flourished. Children ran and played, families grew, all
gone now.
There is a little opening at the base
of a Valley Oak, I imagine that it is a doorway to the Other World, and
leave the apple, a snack for whatever may find it, a raccoon or deer, a
lost spirit, or maybe even The Great She.
You can cross the creek here, but in winter I don’t.
Two more miles through the Wilson Valley links you to the Judge Davis
Trail, which snakes up the spine of a long ridge on an old fire road.
Too much mud this day, so I just nap
until I get cold, pack up, the friendly weight of my pack on my back,
down to Highway 20, down to the other world. Redbud Trail. Winter.
What God Said When She Finally Answered Me
Look at what I have—everything! Every dream!
I have flight and fancy—endless children!
And look at you—losing sleep over foolish worries.
Can you control it all? I don't!
Life is coincidence—listen to your dreams.
Learn to love the life you already have.
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