Patrick James Dunagan: California Poets Part 9, Three Poems

Patrick James Dunagan

December 22nd, 2025

California Poets: Part IX

Patrick James Dunagan

Three Poems

Birds

Jason,

                    Again.  It's

     Poe's children  —

            strolling @

         The Botanical Gardens

entering into California shrubs

                   everybody

        finally is getting green

     & wet a bit.

                            Wind

                          rattles branches

          leaves fall down about

                                                  & birds:

                    Seemingly all over

        rejoice

                             seeds to

  scoop up

                         as they flit all about.

           Small ones

                   the scrub jay too

               Av even spied a mouse!

                                    Cool sunlight

                                                  shafting low

       crisscrosses branches 

                                         hits stone.

                               We sit

                       birds go.

                                   It's all alright

         12-23-20

SHITTING

watching sunset is always incredible.

T W O    B L O C K S    N O R T H    I S    A F R I C A

          Deep  forest  green    

                                  birds  fly   all  round

               up   over        across

                                                             the world

                       city streets 

                                                      fogged  early  morning

            train rides

                                               tree tops   shrouded

                                     Africa           is   rolling    by

         late  afternoon     staring out      at     Mt. Tamalpais

                                  every change brings renewal

                                                                       moving    between  states

                       of being

                                                         not just   here   or  there

                                   but   if    when    &     rather

            continuous      further       exposure

                                                                    all   you  know

                           all  you’ll ever  not knowing  coming  down

                                                                  to split-second

       glimpses     where     eternity   keeps   flipping

channels      between             doomed         &       notsomuch

                                          the eunuchs have raised    funds   for   survival

                                                         though we’re not sure whether

                      that includes any of us                       they’ve been  busy

             (for eunuchs

                                                                                 arguing   long into  dawn’s hour

          over who gets  to sit where

                                                                       etc.

                                       Jimmy they appear to hold in most high regard

                 praising his maneuvers   from   across   the way

                       although   nobody    lives  forever

                                              Jimmy  just might

                                      is how  things feel

                                                                                            rumbling   down    along Judah

                                                  dreaming of Redondo

(Meaning                                                                    there are reasons worth believing

       what does                                       you’d best  let them   go

   it mean                                                                   one more night

    nothing means                                               down

                                  several centuries to go

                                                                           Jimmy lives FOREVER     

                                      FOR KEVIN OPSTEDAL

                                                                  2-23-21

                                         (written split-page in the notebook McClure-style

                                                  after hearing of Ferlinghetti & reading

                                                     EXILE ON BEACH STREET up on the roof

Author Bio:

Patrick James Dunagan lives in San Francisco and works as E-resources Assistant in Gleeson Library at the University of San Francisco. His latest books include City Bird and other poems (City Lights) and Reading Writing Reading: Essays Reviews & Notes (Lithic press).