They Cast No Shadows In Eureka Country
May 16 2003


As if the continent tilted left
and the rootless, and the dreamers, and the hapless souls
and all those without the anchor of home
or too weak to grab hold
tumbled west.
They skitter and ricochet across the landscape like pin-balls
powerless to halt their fall
to the edge,
until they all pile-up hard against the coast
and only stop when there’s no further west to go.
Bruised and groggy
and blinking in the golden splendour where the sun never sets
they cast no shadows in eureka country.

You can travel light when you travel west,
always clear warm nights
and the days are blessed.
Where they manufacture fantasy,
and all the surfers are tanned and lean,
and you can catch the perfect wave on the perfect beach.
And where you need not only dream
of California girls,
or the good life;
and the possibilities seem endless.

Where no one knows
who you were
once;
and no one cares
who you’re about to become.