Oregon

A Poem by Eileen

memories of living in Oregon.

Robin egg blue walls

and a brown roof,

lilies in the garden,

naked ladies on the hill,

carrots that I would pick.

cotton candy in the pool house

The pool that only lasted so long

Enlarged to a child's eyes

A dog falls in breaking the surface

Kodah hated water and Kodah hated bees,

underground bees that coated the forest floor

Skin covered in stings

The forest where we played,

catching newts and lizards

Hanging on a tree

Swinging on a buoy

like ones I saw on the salty sea

Buoys like in Bandon

In Bandon like Cranberry Sweets

Cranberry Sweets almost too sweet

but not as sweet as memories of the past.

© 2026 Eileen

Author's Note

I lived in Oregon for a couple of years when I was very young. This is a poem of my fragmented memories of living there.

My Review

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Reviews

Michael Sun Bear

Nicely written! You really do evoke my young years. I grew up in a very rural area, lived in the woods, swam in the river. I’ve been on the Oregon coast a few times but don’t remember Bandon, which I located on a map after reading your poem.

Posted 1 Month Ago

1 Month Ago

Yeah... it really was a small tucked away city, so many good childhood memories though! 😂

JayG

I mean no insult, but this is a list of things meaningless to anyone but you.

You begin with, “Robin egg blue walls and a brown roof” Are they the walls in the building or outside? And why do I, or any reader, care what a building that I will never see looked like? Are you dying to know the color my walls are painted? Of course not. So...

You talk about naked ladies, which are a flower. But not knowing there was such a thing, my first impression was to wonder why Oregon has naked women wandering its hills....and how much a plane ticket there costs. 😁

You then go from flowers growing wild to carrots, which don’t, unless you mean Queen Ann’s Lace? No way to tell.

My point: this is 100% you talking about things meaningful only to you. But a list of, “I remember this,” broken into short lines is NOT a poem. Poems are meant to be read aloud, and be meaningful, and entertaining to-the-reader. They want to borrow your imagination, and expect you to have mastered the poet’s superpower:

Through your choice of words and their placement, you can make someone you will never meet feel the emotion of YOUR choosing...if, you dig into the skills that have been developed over the centuries. Why do that? Because in school we’re taught how to write the reports, letters, and other nonfiction that employers need of us. Those of poetry, as with any other profession, must be acquired in addition to those general employment skills.

That doesn’t say you can’t write poetry, and do so in any way you care to. But if your goal is to please the reader, it makes sense to acquire the skills that those who are selling their poetry feel are necessary.

And to do that, I suggest Mary Oliver’s, A Poetry Handbook. It’s an absolute gem of a book, and filled with little surprises. She’s also a poet of note. You can get an idea of how good she is, and necessary, from the excerpt from that book on any bookseller saite.

And for metrical poetry, and prosody in general, try the excerpt from Stephen Fry’s, The Ode Less Traveled. I think you’ll find what he has to say about the flow of language fascinating.

Sorry my news wasn’t better, but, given that the poem works for you, who have context and intent driving your understanding, you’ll see no problems. And who fixes the problem they don’t see as being one? So, I thought you might want to know.

Jay Greenstein
Articles: https://jaygreenstein.wordpress.com/category/the-craft-of-writing/the-grumpy-old-writing-coach/
Videos: https://www.youtube.com/@jaygreenstein3334

- - - - - -

“Good writing is supposed to evoke sensation in the reader. Not the fact that it’s raining, but the feeling of being rained upon.”
~ E. L. Doctorow

Posted 1 Month Ago

I mean no insult, but this is a list of things meaningless to anyone but you.

You begin with, “Robin egg blue walls and a brown roof” Are they the walls in the building or outside? And why do I, or any reader, care what a building that I will never see looked like? Are you dying to know the color my walls are painted? Of course not. So...

You talk about naked ladies, which are a flower. But not knowing there was such a thing, my first impression was to wonder why Oregon has naked women wandering its hills....and how much a plane ticket there costs. 😁

You then go from flowers growing wild to carrots, which don’t, unless you mean Queen Ann’s Lace? No way to tell.

My point: this is 100% you talking about things meaningful only to you. But a list of, “I remember this,” broken into short lines is NOT a poem. Poems are meant to be read aloud, and be meaningful, and entertaining to-the-reader. They want to borrow your imagination, and expect you to have mastered the poet’s superpower:

Through your choice of words and their placement, you can make someone you will never meet feel the emotion of YOUR choosing...if, you dig into the skills that have been developed over the centuries. Why do that? Because in school we’re taught how to write the reports, letters, and other nonfiction that employers need of us. Those of poetry, as with any other profession, must be acquired in addition to those general employment skills.

That doesn’t say you can’t write poetry, and do so in any way you care to. But if your goal is to please the reader, it makes sense to acquire the skills that those who are selling their poetry feel are necessary.

And to do that, I suggest Mary Oliver’s, A Poetry Handbook. It’s an absolute gem of a book, and filled with little surprises. She’s also a poet of note. You can get an idea of how good she is, and necessary, from the excerpt from that book on any bookseller saite.

And for metrical poetry, and prosody in general, try the excerpt from Stephen Fry’s, The Ode Less Traveled. I think you’ll find what he has to say about the flow of language fascinating.

Sorry my news wasn’t better, but, given that the poem works for you, who have context and intent driving your understanding, you’ll see no problems. And who fixes the problem they don’t see as being one? So, I thought you might want to know.

Jay Greenstein
Articles:  https://jaygreenstein.wordpress.com/category/the-craft-of-writing/the-grumpy-old-writing-coach/
Videos:  https://www.youtube.com/@jaygreenstein3334

- - - - - -

“Good writing is supposed to evoke sensation in the reader. Not the fact that it’s raining, but the feeling of being rained upon.”  
~ E. L. Doctorow

Rating /100

1 Month Ago

I appreciate you for taking the time to read and leave this review. Be assured that I take no offens.. read more

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2 Reviews
Added on January 25, 2026
Last Updated on January 25, 2026

Author

Eileen

About

I want somewhere that I can write freely, I hope this is it :) I am from pine sap, from newts caught by children, and buoy rope swings. I am from the grit under my nails, leaves plied double my.. more..