THE CHAIN SAW SCULPTORS

By Leonard K. Eaton

We celebrate the sculptors of U.S. 101

They are something new under the sun.

They flourish in redwood groves,

Where we encounter them in droves.

With skillful strokes of buzzing saws

These carvers model legs and paws.

They are not graduates of schools of art

They carve directly from the heart

They populate the road with cavemen, Vikings and especially bears,

These last sometimes even come in pairs.

One day some art historian is going to take these figures seriously.

He (or she) will claim that among the sculptors is another Henry Moore or Brancusi.

Learned articles will be published on iconography and style,

And there will be chainsaw studios every mile.

The real bears will be confused

And wonder how they are being used.

All this will not distract the industrious sculptors in their stands of trees.

As for my bear, he is out among the daffodils taking his ease.

Coda: I am told that the chainsaw sculptors on California Highway 9

Are also well worth studying and very fine.

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