Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, CALIFORNIA, by ROLFE HUMPHRIES


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

CALIFORNIA, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Spirits, for all they think they can
Last Line: In a bewildering foreign land.
Subject(s): California


Spirits, for all they think they can
Survive alone, aloof from man,
Need flesh and blood about their roots.
This land where giant colored fruits
And gorgeous fragrant blooms comprise
A vegetable paradise,
Apparently does not contain
One rich essential nitrogen:
The men who dig this golden loam
Never turn up the smell of home;
Uneasily they sense a dearth
Of dead men, fertile in the earth,
And while their bodies prosper well
Upon such rank material,
Their thin unhappy souls are whirled
Over this blue alarming world;
Unanchored to the ground, they grow
A little frightened, justly so,
And far too social far too soon;
Like men transplanted to the moon
Who skip across the lunar crust
Making friends swiftly, as they must
Who have no relatives at hand
In a bewildering foreign land.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net