Poem about the South Side of Seattle

The Shame

Traveling on the Link Light Rail,

Heading south from the prosperous center of Seattle,

Complexion changes, Vietnamese, Filipino, Latino--

Cheap restaurants, graffiti, crummy housing,

People on the streets festooned with tattoos,

The usual storefronts: payday loans, pawn shops, blood plasma operations:

Enough cash for dinner and a few beers

In exchange for a pint of your lifeblood.

And there, to the southwest,

Towering over these shabby digs--

Rainier, world's most beautiful mountain,

Most majestic, hovering over it all,

Yelling out, “Shame! For shame!”

O America! You of the false promises.

[Bob Coughlin / July 22, 2014]

Mt.Rainier and the Cascades

Our journey back from Glacier National Park and the Bob Marshall Wilderness was a rather odd one--it took us to Spokane, Washington, where we boarded a plane for Seattle, where we boarded a plane for Minneapolis, and then on to Cleveland. Seattle was covered with clouds and we didn't see much at first. But as we rose above the clouds, the most incredible sight appeared to us--the great Cascade Mountains, and the miraculous Mt. Rainier. At 14, 411 feet it towers above the world, and on a clear day, is easily seen from Seattle, some 50 miles away.

These photos were taken from the airplane window at around 10,000 feet. We could see other volcanic peaks in the distance--maybe Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Hood, Mt. Adams.