Recent Scenes of Homelessness Around Coos Bay
A homeless man clammed in the mudflats as he listened to country music on his phone. He stored his clams in a margarine container.
A homeless woman picked and ate blackberries from a ditch.
A young homeless man with the classic gentile look of Jesus from the Bible storybooks of my youth walked in the gravel shoulder of the Cape Arago Highway at seven in the morning. He was naked.
A homeless man staggering drunk in the dunes of Bastendorff Beach sprayed red paint in the shape of hearts in the sand and rocks. He then hurled the can into the trees and drove away in a 60-year-old truck. Later he rifled through my unlocked car and stole my favorite Leatherman tool.
A homeless woman in a parking lot dueled an imaginary foe with an imaginary sword.
A homeless man walked into a dive bar wearing nothing except cut-off shorts and a white motorcycle helmet. Before he was kicked out he managed to lose one dollar on a slot machine.
A homeless man in his 70s or 80s living out of his dilapidated sedan at the boat ramp can barely stand, let alone walk when he is out of his vehicle. His sedan is distinguished by a Trump 2024 sticker. Every morning he brews coffee on a camp stove in his trunk while classic rock plays on his phone. He seems to prefer Black Sabbath to any other band. He also uses a smart phone and two tablets inside his sedan.
An elderly man walked his pit bull, bicycle and trailer piled high with belongings across the McCullough Bridge.
A young homeless woman has been living out of her sedan for three months. She has a black dog and white cat with her.
A young homeless woman wearing a pink hoodie and carrying a skateboard meandered through the tidal mud flats at 6:30 in the morning.
A homeless woman emerged from a thicket of blackberries and screamed as she walked up a hill carrying a sleeping bag.
A homeless man rode a kid’s bicycle while carrying a bag of wiffle balls.
A young homeless man heaved rocks and dragged a large driftlog into Coos Bay.
More and more of the homeless men in their 40s and 50s have taken to wearing sportswear from the 90s, such as baggy Michael Jordan shorts and Starter jackets.
A homeless man rode an electric bicycle with all his possessions, including three fishing poles, strapped to a rack.
An elderly homeless man found a garden hose and a spigot with running water in front of an abandoned building complex. He was bathing himself and completely nude.
At the boat ramp, a homeless woman wearing a holstered Bowie knife, sparkle jeans and white-rimmed sunglasses yelled profane insults to her mother who was not there.
A homeless man and woman screamed profanities at each other on a sidewalk at 6:30 in the morning.
An elderly homeless man shopped in a grocery store. He wore a leather vest with nothing underneath.
An elderly homeless man sporting an eye patch and wielding a fancy cane asked an employee of a grocery store where the sunglasses were. He had a tattoo of a buxom and naked woman on his left arm.
A homeless woman wore a black knee-high sock on one leg and a white one on the other. A day later she wore a Robin Hood outfit.
A police officer walked into the fog and willows to investigate the homeless encampment adjacent to the boat ramp.
Two homeless men flew an Avengers kite on a Coos Bay beach.
A homeless woman wearing ripped black fishnet stockings carried a skateboard through the mud flats.
A homeless woman asked me for ibuprofen.
A homeless woman with her head under the hood of her sedan wielded a monkey wrench to repair something wrong with the battery.
A young homeless couple stood outside their 80s minivan. Most of its windows were duct taped with cardboard. They fight. She held a baby. She screamed at him to quit spitting on her.
Two homeless men transported a dryer down the middle of the street on an improvised device. It was 6:30 in the morning.
A homeless man carried two pizza boxes over his shoulder as he rode an e-bike to an encampment.
Two men living in a 40-year-old minivan stranded at the boat ramp posted signs on the windshield asking for brake fluid.
A house in the neighborhood started allowing homeless people to pitch tents and string tarps in the front and back yards.
A homeless couple in their 70s searched for cans and bottles on the bay beach.
A young homeless couple conducted a photo shoot with their dogs and wildflowers.
A homeless man rides his e-bike to a cove in Charleston where he fishes almost every day.
A young homeless woman did something inexplicable in a flower bed at seven in the morning, weeding perhaps?
A homeless man fished for trout in a lake in a city park.
A homeless man sat inside a 60-year-old pick up truck in a city park. He was listening to a podcast. The door was ajar. He was naked.
An addled homeless woman at the boat ramp asked me what kind of dog Elmer was. I told her. She said, “Oh you speak Alaska husky! No! That’s so cool.” I laughed and Elmer and I walked away.
A young homeless man slumped on bench outside a dive bar nodded off in a fentanyl stupor. It was raining hard.
A homeless woman weaved across the sidewalk wearing a zebra onesie.
A Metallica three-disc CD anthology washed ashore in front of a Coos Bay homeless encampment.