California Is A Hard One For Me To Do, I Think I Can Only Deal With It From Sunny New Mexico.

I have a fondness for the Golden State, but I find I have to look for it!

California is a hard one for me to do; I think I can only deal with it from sunny New Mexico.

-You know if you go too far west you get California, Swarchenegger lives there, "and if it bleeds we can kill it."

I think of Joshua trees, live oaks, redwoods, chaparral, capillary freeways, cities that bleed all together in a sprout of assfault seeds.

People, lots of em' driving though into a sunset on the Pacific, and there, out of land, Californians turn back then into themselves in retirement gray, new age, lay there heads on the beds that they've made. Or else north or south seeking San Diego, perhaps Baja, northward the  Bay Area, or even further colony's, Portland, Seattle, and there sometimes bummed by the lack of sunshine, eastward to the west again, Phoenix, Montana, Albuquerque, Austen, Boise, Salt Lake, Denver, Bend, Las Veges, for southernen Californios. Lots of Californians ain't' there? Many who live there love where they live, and more arrive daily. Movies come from there and they have twelve people to pick the small lint out of every red Carpet before the star feet touch them. Too much has happened there for me to take it seriously. The human drama mellows with melodrama. Indians and acorns, Padres and Conquistadors, 49's and Chinese. Roy Rogers riding out into his culi de sac sunset. Sunset Boulevard on an L.S.D. Door. Buck Owens and Bakersfield. Mexicans, lots of Mexicans, coming to the state the U.S. took from them. Vietnamese people, people from every where, and ain't we all loving all the diversity. everybody's got a car or three.

Gang bangers in Crenshaw, and Watts, loggers in Hayfork and Readding. Surfers in Santa Cruz New Age's making their own  religions. Everything starts out there and spreads outward. Silicone Valley is changing, The Eagles don't live in Topanga, I'm strangely fascinated by disaster. What are we going to do about California, her fair lovey weather and beaches? Her mudslides, house hillsides, and earthquakes? People live there and there thirsty, and the earth's getting tired of the wight.

Reviews

[Constance]

I lived in California for 5 years. With each year I grew to hate it there a little worse. I lived in the San Joaquin Valley, and basically lived like I was in Mexico. That is not my complaint. The Mexicans there were the best people I knew. It was all the other people out to hustle and make you pay for their overinflated standards of living. The taxes are insane, the cops are more insane, and sometimes it seems the Meth must run down the gutter like a river of powdered milk, the way so many can afford it when they can't pay their bills. When I left that state, I thought - FREE AT LAST! Free to live like a normal human being, without drug deals in front of my house in a tiny town, able to let my child play outdoors in the yard. I am sure it was once beautiful, but we pitiful humans have just raped that all away, now, haven't we? It might as well sink. I just hope the decent people get out of there before it does.
I loved this write. If you type it into word and use spellcheck I think it will get rid of a lot of the problems. Even I make typos, human dictionary that I am. :)

[Wildfleour]

Minus a few technical glitches, I liked this a lot. It reminded me of "We can start the fire" for some reason.....

[Chloe..Across the Unive..]

Enjoyed your view of California .. it is a very pretty state .. and it is sinking so they say... a good adveturous poem , opps story.
Chloe

[justjenn_2u]

I have never ventured to Cali. This piece is full of wonderful language and the imagery is very well created. Enjoyed reading!

[Wolfwind Words]

I find that there are two sides to the California theme. One is as you have writen here. I think it is a valid dynamic view of the plight that is souther california. The other side is that of synthesis. California is a hodgepodge of all sorts. It's true that somethings start there. But it's also true the many things end there. Not only does Cali create product, farming, technology, and people and their learned trades. But it also is a gathering of people who wish to find a little bit of everything else that will make them feel balanced.
I have driven the length and width of the country, but i find myself always smiling while rolling into the chaos of souther cali, be it LA, San diego, palm springs, or bakersfield. I like it because it is just that chaos. There is always something going on. Things are always moving, people always doing something.
I believe that California has become a weight upon other states for reasons of water and energy supply. Yet i see that as just the flow of things. People of california could spend more of their tax money to fix their roads, and shore up their cliffs. But they won't. They are to busy going about their daily grind. To busy worrying about their shiny cars. I guess in away i'm indifferent to the California plight. If it is eroded into the sea, then that's what was ment to happen. If it becomes someplace grand. then thats ok to.
Your words have put a twist on things. Makes people look again at whats around them and think.
Good Write.

[My Name is Brenda and I..]

Hi Chad -- All writers share a bond but the way you write about California is haunting. (First let me thank you from the bottom of my heart for your review of Windshield.) Before finding that commune in New Mexico, we tried California. But we fled for the reasons you recount so beautifully in your poem. That's what really good writing does: It connects. Thank you. Brenda

[Blackbirdsong]

You really packed a little of everything in here and yet haven't lost any of the flow or the strength of your writer's voice. The only thing I would recommend is to make this a spoken word piece - if you like. Since your voice comes through some strongly in this it might be fun to hear you read it with all the feeling that you put into it. Well just an idea. I really enjoyed reading this and felt like I came away knowing more about California than I did before.

[IMOGEAN]

One thing you forgot to mention is the farming. Here in California we grow more produce than any other state. In fact, we supply almost 40% of the nations fruits and vegetables. I live in the north state where the weather is mild. No earthquakes here either. I grew up in a small farming community of a couple thousand people, where if you didn't own a cowboy hat, you just didn't fit in. I live a world away from beaches and city folks. The wonderful thing about California, is that you can find all weather climates and all ranges of people. I would no more want live in the southern part of this state than I would want to live in Iraq. lol
Great write...

I am just a country girl from California.

God Bless
Imogean

[Rita G]

I've never been to California but this seems to encapsulate it well.