haiku retrospective xi

silver arrow, south.
boulder creek to santa cruz,
on to watsonville.

coastal rainforest
every mood known, beloved,
the held hand of home.

climb through spring's green hills
guarded by sentinel oaks --
california's soul.

east to hollister
land of the seismic shivers.
earth speaks pinnacles.

up pacheco pass
semi trucks carry bounty,
central valley's gifts.

gusty los banos
begins central valley farms.
vast agriculture.

as a child, i thought
the great plains were reflected
in glacial-scoured flats.

sacramento and
san joaquin valley vistas
showed me horizon.

the children remark:
the central valley's boring,
unrelieved flatness.

toy cattle graze hills.
cotton wagons abandoned.
nectarines in bloom.

flooded rice paddies
orange, almond, olive orchards.
farm equipment yards.

99 south to
madera, breadbasket depths.
california's heart.

sierra's hint: stone.
pebbles appear. outcrops of
granite say "mountains."

sierra foothills:
blue oak, white oak, digger pine.
the great climb begins.

children feel mountains.
road curves obey the terrain.
folded continent.

oakhurst: last outpost.
3000 feet in foothills.
wilderness above.

sierran winter
game: when will the snow begin?
4000 feet? no.

north slope, snow patches.
south slope, traces of snow melt.
the snow level's high.

daily, the snow melts,
nightly refreezing solid.
snow's compacted ice.

too hard for child skis.
too hard for many snowballs.
too hard to sculpt snow.

ideal for sledding,
cold, packed, icy-slippery.
children in free flight.

26 February 1997