Neighborhood therapy
Hanging out in places that feed my soul
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Crow poem
In July 2023, I published a poem, Crow Convo, about how crows gather along Portland’s waterfront. It’s been awhile since I’ve seen crows gathering like that.
Crow, Singular
Where are the crowds of crows? Mobs of crows? Their parliament? I just see single crows, Fat and shiny Self-assured. Strutting and hopping— Maybe they’re lazy, Saving on wing-work. Use to be, at twilight, They’d fly to the river, But on my hillside miles away I can’t see them thronging there. Clever crows, hiding their secrets. Feeding their young in hidden nests. Do they even notice me as I wheel past? They hop, hop away, black and shiny.
Buses and neighborhoods
When I go on my bus adventures, engaging in what I call “bus therapy,” I’ve found some favorite destinations here in Portland, Oregon. I think of visiting them as “neighborhood therapy.”
Lents
I first explored the Lents neighborhood, in far Southeast in the shadow of the I-205 freeway, because I was reviewing a book set there, Tigers of Lents by Mark Pomeroy.
In Lents I find a thriving farmers market, where I started writing poetry for strangers. I write on my laptop at the Refuge Coffee House and work out in the purple-and-yellow-themed Planet Fitness gym. Lents is only about 20 minutes from my home. The 14/Hawthorne bus goes directly there, down Southeast 50th Avenue and then Foster Road.
St. Johns
On the opposite end of town, in the far north, I explore the St. Johns neighborhood. You can reach it on any of four different bus lines, each having its own particular charm. The 16/St. Helens Road skirts the west side of the Willamette River, sailing past the Port of Portland and the small town of Linnton before crossing the St. Johns Bridge. Sadly, much of this picturesque bus route will be discontinued as TriMet struggles with a cash shortfall.
Other routes to St. Johns include the 4/Fessenden bus that runs on iconic streets like Williams and Mississippi. The 44/Mocks Crest line follows the bluffs over the Willamette near the University of Portland. The 75/César Chávez tools up César Chávez Boulevard and 42nd Avenue before veering west on Dekum and Lombard.
In St. Johns, I visit the Taqueria y Panaderia de Santa Cruz, where customers pass through a Mexican grocery to reach a cafe with authentic Mexican food, like tacos with tongue or tripe. Sometimes I write with coffee at hand at the Two Stroke Coffee Co. There’s a Burgerville, too, where they will wrap my burger in lettuce.
Sellwood
The 70/12th Avenue bus takes me south to the Sellwood neighborhood, where I set up my laptop at the Sellwood library or Blue Kangaroo Coffee Roasters.
I may take time to visit the goats that live nearby on Southeast Lexington or the dino exhibit in a front yard on Bidwell. Sellwood has plenty of sweet small businesses to explore, too.
Hawthorne
I live near Hawthorne, a thriving street anchored by a Fred Meyer and a Safeway, with plenty of foot traffic and at least six good coffee shops. Buy books, vintage clothing or records, or find something to eat, maybe at one of the two McMenamin’s (Barley Mill and Bagdad) on the street. I’m partial to SeaSweets Poke. A new restaurant, Healthy Bite, at 3553 SE Hawthorne, has keto-friendly options.
Parkrose
My newest fun neighborhood is Parkrose. Like Lents and St. Johns, it’s a long trek by bus, about an hour from where I live. I’ve been hanging there since I started mentoring an eighth-grader at Parkrose Middle School.
After a recent visit to the school, I check out the Parkrose business district on Sandy Boulevard, about 12 blocks north of the school, by rolling north in my wheelchair on Northeast 109th Avenue.
There are no sidewalks on this street, but plenty of really huge trees, including a couple of giant sequoias and a towering monkey puzzle. I also encounter a pomegranate shrub, which I’ve never seen before. A neighbor tells me it doesn’t bear fruit; Portland is too far north for this Mediterranean bush to thrive here.
My ride takes me to a bustling business hub that houses the kid-friendly Parkrose Coffee Shop, several dive bars, a big independent thrift store, myriad nail and hair salons, and Genuine Bumpers, with its vast yard filled with discarded automobile bumpers.
Adding to the small-town vibe of Parkrose are businesses named after the owners. Here are Heidi’s Mobile Park, Ben’s Japanese Auto Clinic and, in the background, Deanz Greenz, a cannabis shop. Over on 105th Avenue, find Dan’s Cylinder Head Co.
Parkrose street fair
Last Wednesday, Parkrose held a little street fair. It was a real down-home event—by far the sweetest such gathering I’ve attended. Families and face paint. Small crafters selling t-shirts and bags and jewelry, candles and homemade hot sauce. Tables set up on a green under towering trees.
Amateur music acts included a brass band, with many members decked out in vintage marching band attire.
Also on the green with the band were hula hoop twirlers, and soap bubbles that didn’t make it into the photo.
From time to time, an airplane sailed through the sky to the north, on a landing trajectory to Portland International Airport.
Parkrose poems
Two attendees were brave enough to ask me to write poems for them.
Julia, who’s 3 and was eating pink ice cream, wanted a poem about her mama, who is one of the owners of the Parkrose Coffee Co.
About Mama
A warm lap Just for Julia. A teddy bear Just for Mama. We play in the garden With rabbits and crows Spiders come to play with Me and my Mama.
Shelby asked me to write about hope.
Hope
H ow do we O vercome our P rejudices and E arn our happiness? Open the door, for a start. Twist the knob and throw it back. Hope for the thing unseen While you pick through the pieces of your life. Your life! Well lived! Open to newness, ready to change. Come to the table hungry And feast on hope. Let Spirit bring you dessert.
Maywood Park
Finally, Maywood Park. It’s a small city close to Parkrose. Entirely inside the city of Portland, it was formed in 1967 in a fruitless effort to stop construction of the I-205 freeway. The freeway now forms the southern boundary of the 0.17-square-mile town, which has just over 800 residents.
Maywood Park residents are fiercely proud of their little town. Most homeowners are long-time residents. I didn’t see any houses for sale as I toured the small city.
Woodsy Maywood Park, with its few hundred mostly modest homes, has no commercial district. You can find info about life in Maywood Park on Substack, and read the newsletter.
Your favorite
If you live in Portland, do you have a favorite neighborhood? If you live elsewhere, what’s fine in your city? If you live in the country . . . what’s not to like there?
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Rainbow dessert
June is Pride Month, and my church is in on the celebration. A parishioner made this striking gelatin creation for a recent coffee hour.
Valedictory poem
Fine and Fresh
I’m grateful for tiny things, Bumps of acne on my nose, Ringing in my ears, the start Of something fine and fresh. Fine and fresh, my mantra. Everything is fine and fresh. Sun washes over the horizon. Always. Each day wakes curious as a hatchling Peeping over the clouds, shaking its rattle. Oh, fine and fresh! Pull on the sweater, Knit closely of memory, old and worn. But washed fine and fresh for this fine day.
Until next week
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All the best,
Fran
—30—
Great post and pics. Love the two girls in the Radio Flyer (I didn’t know they still made them) and others pics of the street fair. I still love mooching around Lauralhurst but my favs would be Hawthorne and Belmont.
A short hop for me but I didn’t hear about it in time to go. A