FLORA AND FAUNA
Occupy California
Virginia Barrett
Point Reyes National Seashore
The
field mustard
is
occupying the land
of
the historic ranch
with
a brilliant banner
of
yellow—urging an early
American
Spring.
Crows,
in their black,
Zen
monk robes, stand
atop
the fence posts
and
impart:
“let
flowers grow
in
all our hearts.”
Having
survived
an
earlier eviction,
the
Tule Elk graze
on
the hillsides
of
loving undulations
above
the rousing surf.
Cows,
black and white,
conscientiously
chew the cud
of
the indigestible news
while
in Tomales Bay
the
oysters form pearls
to
pay for better schools.
Mountain
lions organize
in
the night, stealing
it
back from the monopoly
of
electric lights,
(and
the stars are staging a sit-in).
Coyotes
circle
to
devour
the
corporate carnage
in
the misty rain
that
is washing
this
earthly paradise,
this
California,
