Sharon Coleman is a fifth-generation Northern Californian. She writes for Poetry Flash, co-curates the reading series Lyrics & Dirges, and co-directs the Berkeley Poetry Festival. She’s the author of a chapbook, Half Circle, and a book of micro-fiction, Paris Blinks. Her poetry and fiction appear in several publications, including Your Impossible Voice, White Stag, Ambush Review. She’s been nominated twice for a Pushcart and once for a micro award for blink fiction. She received a scholarship from the Luso-American Foundation to attend the Disquiet Literary Conference in Lisbon and was a finalist for the Jane Underwood poetry prize.
Sharon was born and raised in San Mateo. Her father, Richard H. Coleman, was the City Planner who worked hard to create the Downtown Plan. Prior to revitalization efforts in 1972, B-Street had a number of dive-bars. Mr. Coleman included mix-use—which was rare for a downtown and attracted many businesses—and planned for high density apartment living with shopping and restaurants in walking distance. He also supported the renovation of San Mateo’s historic train station. (Built in 1863, the station was the midpoint on the San Francisco to San Jose railroad. It witnessed many historical events including the visit of President Theodore Roosevelt, who came through town by train in 1909.)
Poems on Belonging
LAUREL CREEK/ARROYO DE LOS LAURELES
windless nights
cricketsong
opens ears
past tvs
to rhythms
once folding
rancho de las pulgas
into evening harmonics
californios
and costanoans
who survived missions
exhaled tired
into deepening cobalt
crowning oaks and figs
before contact
ramaytush kept clear
fields around freshwater
to catch deer
who lowered
lips to stream
laurels and chestnuts
willow-bowed homes
bent towards
its wide banks
warm evenings
the selfsame cricketsong
hints hillsdale boulevard’s curves
follow a creekbend
behind houses—
slow waters carve
against concrete
channels
narrowing
below streets
in measures
of earthtime
SOURCES
the map won’t show
more
than two blue lines
cupping steep terrain—
one flows east
along the steep northern
slope, yankee-named
for a sugar haul
another stream seeps
from wary ghosts
of the county’s
poor farm rubble
of the unmarked
ssalson town
this east bend snakes
round the southern side
flows through laurel roots
into its twin
just before fernwood street
the creek a confluence
increased by drainage
a pipe extends
from library grounds
old french crique
with krik old norse
maybe middle dutch kreke
unknown ultimate origin
whatever flows
into words so fluently
sourced by unmapped
springs trickling
through embankments
of pixels and ink
Copyright © 2022 by Sharon Coleman. These poems were presented at the 2022 National Poetry Month Celebration sponsored by San Mateo Public Library and the City of San Mateo. Used with permission of the author.
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