when i first came here
ungolden
an ignorant hick
a boy
when you invited me over
opened up your
great alluvial basin
when i drove past the
agricultural pest control checkpoint
with its dumpster full of contraband grapefruit
from hellholes like texas
when you showed me
virga over the
mojave
rain that evaporates before it hits the ground
i'd never seen that before, i'd always wanted to
the very coolest of all precipitation
exotic and impossible to my virginian eyes
and there it was
right through the windshield
over joshua trees and exposed plutonic massifs
like figure 12-a from
Introduction to Meteorology
When i came here an ungolden ignorant hillbilly
a boy
when you gave me speed
everything moving faster
you gave me concrete like
the fifteen the ten the five
the one oh one
the one ten the two
the la river
rio hondo california aqueduct
all american canal
you gave me LAX SFO BUR SAC
and the blue line metrolink
amtrak caltrain bart
speed speed speed
casual movement
like a pot set to boil
logistics hubs full of containers
red green blue
corrugated steel
planetary breadboxes
labeled with
hyundai and super heavy
And Jesus! the words
sigalert taquiera
marine layer tremblor
number 4 lane botanica
jacked up guero
cross collateralized
mitzah farkakte
wind wave interval
value added gang related
officer involved satay
pollo loco in and out
multilevel structure
seismic retrofit
reposado ramp closed for repair
p5 interceed for us
our blessed virgin
queen of angels
warrior queen
Califa
Golden. They don't make golden back east
the sky santa ana jet stream pacific clear
the sky filled with golden airplanes
The towers golden and the hills golden
They don't make the people golden
they don't run the the whole fucking state
as a volunteer organization
this america inside america
They don't make *me* golden back east
But you do, my eureka
you are golden enough
to make a
whiteboy golden
to make an ignorant hillbilly golden
make him a full grown human being
unstunted unbowed
tall and
golden
After all that you've done
for me
as personal as
fedex
how can I leave you?
I can leave you because you made me possible.
Cali, you gave and gave and gave
golden and generous and endless
your heart too large to break
when i leave you
golden
your leading export:
me,
Californian