The Giant Poem
Bay of Monterey
The Giant Poem of
Monterey Bay
Initiated by
Ron Lampi
So much can happen
in a poem,
if the poem
is woven
with time
to be kept in mind,
letting time do
—as it does so well—
its fateful part,
as you must be open to
if you would weave
& let happen
a giant poem of,
a celebration of—
***
I have named You our Bay of Monterey
& I will celebrate You & all the life of You
& all the secrets of You
(of which I am privy to—
I continue my Poem of You, Goddess of the Bay,
began of poems from years ago.
From as far north as the white pillar of lighthouse
at Pigeon Point up the San Mateo coast of Highway 1
Your presence the Santa Lucia Mountains the dark blue distant of an outline to the south
appears,
the giants the Santa Lucias, the southmost guardians of You rising just beyond Monterey—
Driving still south, Highway 1, passing Point Año Nuevo, passing the steep white bluffs
at Waddell Creek, entering the county of Santa Cruz, approaching Davenport
—the tall cement plant comes into view—,
then slowing down briefly through this blink of a town
& then resuming speed south of Davenport still,
approaching Santa Cruz, the Santa Lucias ride above the white billows of Your fog,
more & more prominent they appear.
And if we approach You from the south, Highway 1,
You cannot be seen from any such distance,
not until a rise in the highway passed Carmel, passed the exits to Pebble Beach
& Pacific Grove
as the highway skirts alongside Monterey suddenly comes then into view
the full south curving of the Bay waters of You—
So much like a big, blue, white-sand-lipped bowl
You there beautifully appear.
From Point Pinos,
tip of the Monterey Peninsula, town of Pacific Grove
—a lighthouse just back from the point you find there—,
the Santa Cruz Mountains to the north the cool blue gray undulation of
rides in the distance there,
Loma Prieta the noted peak,
a continuous backbone ridge of backdrop to Santa Cruz, and is northmost backdrop
boundary of You.
From Point Pinos
to Point Santa Cruz—a lighthouse there too, landmark famous on the cliffs
of West Cliff Drive—
it’s about 20 miles the span of Bay from point to point, direction south to north,
the Bay fanning out as open ocean to the great Pacific & the All-One-Ocean
that is globe encircling.
At Natural Bridges State Beach
where West Cliff ends the pelicans gather on the massive mudstone monolith,
the kelp forest canopy sways in the surf; here, where the summer Sun sets far back
of the land,
where the monarchs of wintertime shelter, where the open Pacific is spread before us,
You, Bay of Monterey,
—I turn my head to the left, looking south, there the Santa Lucias bold appear—
You are so near.
From the university
upon a hill west Santa Cruz all of You can be seen—
From the Soquel & Aptos hills, from multi-terraced Cabrillo College,
all through the Santa Cruz Mountains upon so many ridges
that suddenly open out with a view
—from Fern Flat Road & upon ridge tops above Corallitos
there are such gorgeous views of You—
& from our tallest coastal summit Loma Prieta
—along the entire topmost chaparral ridge an otherworldly realm to our local world—,
there, in the strange, far, fade-out distance
You appear our Goddess born of the great Mother Ocean—
Coming down Highway 17 from Silicon Valley You appear at points;
coming down Hecker Pass, Highway 152, turning at the boarded up
Mt. Madonna Inn, above Watsonville,
beyond the checkerboard agricultural fields You appear,
but often veiled too by your curtains of fog or filmy mist.
Coming down Laurelles Grade Road above Monterey
among the classic of central coast golden oak hills
You appear distantly above the surrounding ridges.
At night,
from any one of the views,
the glittering necklace lights of our civilization appear all round
the curve of the profound dark of You.
Goddess,
I have seen that well-known photograph unmistakable of You
taken from hundreds of miles above in satellite space—
Unmistakable that feminine-breasted contour of You.
Centerpiece
of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary You are—
Federally established in 1992, at 5,322 square miles, the sanctuary
is the largest & deepest of its kind in the country,
—said to be the second largest in the world—
an ocean wilderness fiercely protected from dumping & oil drilling
& the ruinous fallout of unbridled development,
extending 276 miles from the headlands of Marin north the Golden Gate
to southward the California mid-coast along the entire giant coast
of Big Sur,
and still a bit more, to Cambria.
Steinbeck called You
the crown jewel of bays—
I call You the Queen Herself
among bays.
I have seen the Sun in the sky burning upon the scintillating Bay,
and I have seen the Sun in Vision deep inside the heart of the Bay—
Below the seawater surface what wonders there we have yet
to explore!
What unseen landscapes cast in perpetual darkness!
What surprises for us someday,
& more—
The continental shelf
narrows considerably off the southward coast from San Francisco
approaching the Bay,
and is again & again deep incised by underwater canyons,
of which, the largest & deepest, most notable of all along North America’s coasts
is the Monterey Submarine Canyon beginning just over 100 yards
off the midpoint nipple of the Bay—
There the entrance
to Moss Landing Harbor opens into the estuary
of precious, so special, Elkhorn Slough, and there the old fishing town you find
of Moss Landing.
Not far from shore
the canyon’s steep walls begin their plunge,
beginning a narrow V canyon that with each further plunge widens & widens
—out to 13 miles wide as it opens to meet the greater Pacific—
and deeper goes, to 10,663 feet the canyon still within the boundary
of the sanctuary goes,
plunging over twice the depth of Arizona’s Grand Canyon,
and wider than,
the Monterey Submarine Canyon could swallow up
the world famous Grand Canyon.
Going ever deeper
the chasm finally spreads its alluvial fan 60 miles out
onto the abyssal ocean floor.
Goddess,
we gaze out over You
& what You call forth out of us,
so much comes forth out of the soul
of us—
Your depth is enormous
what You bring forth
This is the North Pacific—
The coastal waters here are chilly,
in winter on the average of 52° F, in summer barely ever going
above 59° F;
it is this constancy of the Bay water temperature that keeps
the coastal weather overall moderate, the Bay as does the great ocean itself
maintains in the Mediterranean manner the whole climate
along the entire coastal region,
so that
winters are mild,
rarely is there snow, some freezing & occasional snow perhaps at the tops
of the mountains at night,
whereas summer never remains hot for days on end, as you find inland,
as the fog cycle makes for a perpetual affair,
eventually within days brings in the cool, moist air, even the sudden chill,
Monterey Bay is known as the air conditioner of the whole area.
Some summers, in fact,
were almost no summer at all for the marine layer that hung
a surprisingly cool blanket over us
for days—for weeks—on end.
It is so often in later summer and autumn we find that gorgeous, tranquil,
endless summery feel
of Sun-filled skies.
Goddess Bay of Monterey
—was that not your original name?
They called You Bay of Monterey then,
You were the legendary bay of the 17th Century
after Vizcaino first sailed into You in December of 1602
& so glowingly did he describe You that others over a hundred years later
set out to rediscover You—
There were voyagers who tried but couldn’t find You,
until, most famous of all, the Governor Portola Expedition in 1769
journeyed by land up the Alta California coast
from the settlement of San Diego to seek out that legend of You—
You were discovered once again in October of 1769,
rediscovered & secured for Western Civilization.
Goddess, You are
beautifully spread in this space
before us
in the existential There
of place—
Right before our eyes
You are There—
Bay of Monterey,
We are far from comprehending You,
we certainly cannot tame You,
we cannot live, at least as of now, upon your waters,
we cannot drive our cars over your body—
We stand here at the Edge, upon the cliffs,
and gaze upon You and have built our civilization around You—
How our human-constructed world in this era of transition
between Ages
has grown all around You—
***
[to be continued]