Poetry Explorer

Search Classic and Contemporary Poetry

Search Results

Back to search

Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Searching...
Subject: CALIFORNIA
Matches Found: 474

UPDATE command denied to user 'poetryex_users'@'localhost' for table `poetryex_poems`.`subcnt` 22-NOV-88, by ISHMAEL REED    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: In california %the day looks as though it's seen a ghost
Last Line: Fox trot at the inaugural %ball
Subject(s): California


A CALIFORNIA CHRISTMAS, by CINCINNATUS HEINE MILLER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Behold where beauty walks with peace!
Last Line: Between this land and paradise.
Alternate Author Name(s): Miller, Joaquin
Subject(s): California; Christmas; Life; Nativity, The


A CALIFORNIA IDYL, by ERNEST MCGAFFEY    Poem Text                    
First Line: A road-runner dodged through the chaparral
Last Line: And dashed his beak through the rattlesnake.
Subject(s): California; Roadrunners; Geococcyx Californianus


A CALIFORNIA SONG, by CLARENCE THOMAS URMY    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I come to you with a gift in my hand
Last Line: The scent of the fields where the poppies grow.
Subject(s): California; Flowers; Poppies


A CALIFORNIAN'S DREAMS, by EDWARD ROWLAND SILL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: A thunder-storm of the olden days
Last Line: With the youth and life and love they held?
Alternate Author Name(s): Hedbrooke, Andrew
Subject(s): California; Storms; Landscape


A GOLDEN DREAM, by KATHRYN ROESER DUNLAP    Poem Text                    
First Line: The sun came out of the east
Last Line: And found a place in the west.
Subject(s): California - Gold Discoveries; Frontier & Pioneer Life; West (u.s.); Gold Rush; Forty-niners; Southwest; Pacific States


A GRAIN OF MUSTARD SEED, by CHARLES SAMUEL GREENE    Poem Text                    
First Line: What moved me most, dear friend, that happy day
Last Line: The brooding presence of the paraclete.
Subject(s): Graves; San Fernando, California; Tombs; Tombstones


A LONG WAY OUTSIDE YELLOWSTONE, by THOMAS MCGRATH    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Across the tracks in cheyenne, behind the biggest billboard
Last Line: Wondering if hers is among them. Or perhaps not
Subject(s): Denver, Colorado; Sacramento, California; Wyoming; Yellowstone National Park


A MENDOCINO MEMORY, by EDWIN MARKHAM    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Once in my lonely, eager youth I rode
Last Line: Bearing the pines hewn out of oregon.
Subject(s): Mendocino, California; Travel; Journeys; Trips


A PECK OF GOLD, by ROBERT FROST    Poem Text         Poet Analysis         Recitation     Poet's Biography
First Line: Dust always blowing about the town
Last Line: We all must eat our peck of gold.'
Subject(s): California - Gold Discoveries; Dust; Gold Rush; Forty-niners


A SONG AT THE WINEPRESSES, by KENNETH REXROTH    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: It is the end of the grape
Subject(s): Nature; Santa Barbara, California


A STRANGE NEW COTTAGE IN BERKELEY, by ALLEN GINSBERG    Poem Text         Poet Analysis         Recitation by Author     Poet's Biography
First Line: All afternoon cutting bramble blackberries off a tottering brown fence
Subject(s): Home; Berkeley, California


A WEDDING-DAY GALLOP (EARLY CALIFORNIA), by IRENE HARDY    Poem Text                    
First Line: Gallop with me, love, away and away
Last Line: Together, together, and always to be.
Subject(s): California; Home; Horseback Riding; Love; Marriage; Travel; Weddings; Husbands; Wives; Journeys; Trips


AFTER READING SABINES, by GARY SOTO    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: At fifty, the excitement recedes
Last Line: And we're gone
Subject(s): San Joaquin Valley, California


AFTER WEIDENFELLER GOES, by BENJAMIN FRANKLIN KING    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: It's goin' to be blamed lonesome after
Last Line: We'll sit around an' say it's jest 'cause weidenfeller's gone.
Alternate Author Name(s): King, Ben
Subject(s): California; Idaho


AKHMATOVA, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Poet, still pool
Last Line: In the depths of your embrace %silence
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


ALONE WITH THE OLD FARMER'S WIFE, by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: By the doorway I hear him
Last Line: To hold %each blossom
Subject(s): California; Cities


ALONG THE SAN ANDREAS FAULT, ALONG THE SANTA FE TRAIL, by PAUL BLACKBURN            Poet Analysis         Recitation by Author     Poet's Biography
Subject(s): California


AMERICA, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: A father
Last Line: To tears at the gentleness %of men
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


AN HOUR OF IDLENESS; IN THE SANTA CRUZ MOUNTAINS, by MARION CUMMINGS    Poem Text                    
First Line: To lie here prone, wholly at rest
Last Line: (I know the lore of fairies) on fern seed.
Subject(s): Nature; Santa Cruz Mountains, California


AS A CHILD I USED TO WANDER, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
Last Line: Though I don't go to the track I don't even play cards
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


AS FOR FIGHTS, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: As for fights, I've had only a few
Last Line: Since then -- nothing, though I think of it every so often
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


ASIAN ZODIAC, by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: Love in the twelfth sign
Last Line: So surely %past our possibility
Subject(s): California; Cities


AT THE CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, by RICHARD BRAUTIGAN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Subject(s): California Institute Of Technology; Knowledge; Learning


AUGUST IN MILL VALLEY, by ELEANOR PRESTON WATKINS    Poem Text                    
First Line: The brook is singing a slumber song
Last Line: But rose-haws and august are glowing red in the sun!
Subject(s): Mill Valley, California


AUTUMN IN CALIFORNIA, by KENNETH REXROTH    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Autumn in california is a mild
Subject(s): California; Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)


AUTUMN IN CALIFORNIA, by KENNETH REXROTH    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Autumn in california is a mild
Last Line: Loud, wiry, and tremulous
Subject(s): California; Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)


AUTUMN IN CARMEL, by GEORGE STERLING    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Now with a sigh november comes to the brooding
Subject(s): Autumn; Carmel, California; Seasons


AVATAR, by JAMES GALVIN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The imperceptible
Last Line: And there you are
Subject(s): California; Magic; Names


BACHELOR'S UNWRITTEN LETTER TO JAPAN, by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: The old man feels lucky tonight
Last Line: Through the dark to his home
Subject(s): California; Cities


BALLAD OF THE GOLD COUNTRY, by HELEN MARIA HUNT FISKE JACKSON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Deep in the hill the gold sand burned
Last Line: "upon another day!"
Alternate Author Name(s): H. H.; Holm, Saxe; Jackson, Helen Hunt
Subject(s): California - Gold Discoveries; Gold; Vines & Vineyards; Gold Rush; Forty-niners


BEACH BALL, by GARY SOTO    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: My body lived briefly in the pupils of a dog
Last Line: His pointy ears falling down in sadness
Subject(s): San Joaquin Valley, California


BECAUSE THE RHYTHM OF THE BALLAD DEPENDS ON THE BASS, by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: More than ever I hear a slow bass line
Last Line: After all is only a man
Subject(s): California; Cities


BEFORE BRUCE LEE THERE WAS TOSHIRO MIFUNE, by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: Toshiro, you were so much more to me
Last Line: In your every step -- no one came close
Subject(s): California; Cities


BEFORE TAMALPAIS, by ARTHUR PETERSON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Over tamalpais the sun / sinks, his daily journey done
Last Line: And be happy while we may.
Subject(s): California


BELLY BREATHS, by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: The belly of the world
Last Line: Breath close %to the core
Subject(s): California; Cities


BERENDA SLOUGH, by PHILIP LEVINE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Earth and water without form
Subject(s): Berenda Slough, California


BERKELEY DOGS, by GARY SOTO    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The dogs look human in their volvos
Last Line: In their mouths, sniffing for the future [or, sniffing for the future of cut grass on a warm summer
Subject(s): San Joaquin Valley, California


BIG TREES IN MARIPOSA, by ELIZABETH ANDERSON COOK    Poem Text                    
First Line: I stood with awe in silence on the ground
Last Line: But these majestic giants still live on!
Subject(s): Mariposa County, California; Trees


BLACK DANDY, by ELIAS MIGUEL MUNOZ    Poem Source                    
First Line: He collects hats
Last Line: Can hear his voice, his wolf bites, the %grinding of his teeth. The applause
Subject(s): African Americans; California; Entertainers


BLOWING GRASS, by SARAH BIXBY SMITH    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: In narrow nuuanu
Last Line: That rise and find no rest.
Subject(s): California; Grass


BOLINAS, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: The eucalyptus leaf
Last Line: One more part %of the mosaic
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


BONE FLUTE, by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: First there were flutes & drums
Last Line: From one low quiver rising
Subject(s): California; Cities


BORDER TALLIES: STILL CLIMBING GOLD MOUNTAIN, by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: It's a little known fact
Last Line: 1.2 billion sets of teeth to shine
Subject(s): California; Cities


BY A SMALL RIVER, by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: A man chooses to build his house
Last Line: The rain and long after
Subject(s): California; Cities


BY BUS TO FRESNO, by PHILIP LEVINE    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I wakened at a filling station
Last Line: Rushing toward us sooner than we know
Subject(s): Bus Terminals; California


BY THE CROSS OF MONTEREY, by RICHARD EDWARD WHITE    Poem Text                    
First Line: Good junipero, the padre
Last Line: With the waters of thy bay!
Variant Title(s): Discovery Of San Francisco Bay;waiting For The Galleon
Subject(s): San Francisco Bay, California; Serra, Junipero (1713-1784); West (u.s.) - Exploration


CALIFORNIA, by INA DONNA COOLBRITH    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Was it the sigh and shiver of the leaves?
Last Line: And bay and sky were bright with sudden stars!
Subject(s): California


CALIFORNIA, by MARY CAROLYN DAVIES    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Blue, blue, april blue
Last Line: Gold, gold, gold!
Alternate Author Name(s): Davis, Leland, Mrs.; Pawtuxie
Subject(s): Blue (color); California; Colors; Gold


CALIFORNIA, by OLIVER MURRAY EDWARDS    Poem Text                    
First Line: I've seen the world, I've traveled far
Last Line: My heart doth yield to thee.
Subject(s): California; Cities; Home; Roads; Travel; Urban Life; Paths; Trails; Journeys; Trips


CALIFORNIA, by DEBORAH GORLIN    Poem Source                    
First Line: The girls ride through the nights on delicate bicycles
Last Line: Into a gratuitous juice for the sun
Subject(s): California; Girls


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


CALIFORNIA, by ROSARIUS LEONARDI    Poem Source                    
First Line: In california %our children live
Last Line: More than dying people who smoke %grass
Subject(s): California


CALIFORNIA, by LYDIA HUNTLEY SIGOURNEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Land of gold! Thy sisters greet thee
Last Line: Folds her jewels to her heart.
Subject(s): California


CALIFORNIA, by DAVID ST. JOHN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My last night in california
Last Line: Of that fortress where lips of ice have sinned
Subject(s): California; Music, Rock; Rock & Roll


CALIFORNIA, by DAVID ST. JOHN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My last night in california
Last Line: The world holds many dreams at least %one of them holds you
Subject(s): California; Music, Rock


CALIFORNIA, by BAYARD TAYLOR    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: How art thou conquered, tamed in all the pride
Last Line: Replace thine ancient ease.
Alternate Author Name(s): Taylor, James Bayard
Subject(s): California


CALIFORNIA CITY LANDSCAPE, by CARL SANDBURG    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: On a mountain-side the real estate agents
Last Line: How long it might last, how young it might be.
Subject(s): California; Houses


CALIFORNIA COAST, by DORIS CALDWELL    Poem Text                    
First Line: Not in small painted towns whose color rips
Last Line: And lost wings circling near a ghost-white star.
Subject(s): California; Seashore; Beach; Coast; Shore


CALIFORNIA DISSONANCE, by JAMES RORTY    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: There is a peewee bird that cries
Last Line: Which helps to make the country grow.
Subject(s): Birds; California


CALIFORNIA GHOST TOWN, by FRAN HARAWAY    Poem Source                    
First Line: Buildings blackened, boards warped, pushed askew
Last Line: Yet, dusty streets show prints of tennis shoes!
Subject(s): California; Ghost Towns


CALIFORNIA MISSIONS, by ANN WHITFORD PAUL    Poem Source                    
First Line: They're tall and sturdy
Last Line: To every word %their silence tells
Subject(s): California; Missionaries And Missions


CALIFORNIA OF THE SOUTH, by GRACE ELLERY CHANNING-STETSON    Poem Text                    
First Line: The land is a garden of glamour, where passes
Last Line: Ere her youth shall have dimmed its immortal grace.
Subject(s): California; Nature


CALIFORNIA OF THE SOUTH, by GRACE ELLERY (CHANNING) STETSON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The land is a garden of glamour, where passes
Last Line: Ere her youth shall have dimmed its immortal grace.
Alternate Author Name(s): Channing, Grace Ellery
Subject(s): California


CALIFORNIA PLUSH, by FRANK BIDART    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: He only thing I miss about los angeles
Subject(s): Cities And Towns; Los Angeles, California


CALIFORNIA SORROW: CLAREMONT RAGA, by MARY KINZIE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Languorous landscape
Last Line: Comes closer / and more near
Subject(s): Jazz; California


CALIFORNIA WINTER, by EDWARD ROWLAND SILL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: This is not winter: where is the crisp air
Last Line: As a new purpose in the wiser soul.
Alternate Author Name(s): Hedbrooke, Andrew
Subject(s): California; Winter


CALIFORNIA'S CHRISTMAS, by CINCINNATUS HEINE MILLER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The stars are large as lilies! Morn
Last Line: I would not seek another.
Alternate Author Name(s): Miller, Joaquin
Subject(s): California; Christmas; Nativity, The


CALIFORNIA'S HYMN, by AMELIA WOODWARD TRUESDELL    Poem Text                    
First Line: Before us lie the seas which bring the east unto the west
Last Line: As the future goes marching on.
Subject(s): Ancestry & Ancestors; California; Patriotism; Travel; West (u.s.) - Exploration; Journeys; Trips


CALIFORNIA'S RESURRECTION, by CINCINNATUS HEINE MILLER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The rain! The rain! The generous rain!
Last Line: Behold what witness like to this?
Alternate Author Name(s): Miller, Joaquin
Subject(s): California; Rain


CALIFORNIA, SELS., by JOHN ROLLIN RIDGE                       
Alternate Author Name(s): Yellow Bird
Subject(s): California


CALIFORNIA; FOR ADRIENNE RICH, by HAYDEN CARRUTH    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: To come again into the place of revolutionary
Last Line: Which were themselves.
Subject(s): California; Change; Poetry & Poets


CALIFORNIANA, by LESLIE NELSON JENNINGS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Getting acclimated, I find %requires a stoic state of mind
Last Line: They're shivering still in new rochelle
Subject(s): California


CALIFORNIANS, by THEODORE SPENCER    Poem Source                    
First Line: Beautiful and blond they come, the californians
Last Line: And a hateful wish to be empty and talk like you
Subject(s): California; Hate


CALIFRONIA COLOR, by MARTHA W. LITTLE    Poem Text                    
First Line: Black the smoke of lassen's fire
Last Line: The spectrum of our sunburst state.
Subject(s): California


CALLIGRAPHER, by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: He stoops on the sandy ground
Last Line: And never went back
Subject(s): California; Cities


CAMBIDGE 1971, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: We came back to cambridge with a little baby
Last Line: Taking a daily trip into harvard square
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


CARMEL HIGHLANDS, by JANET LEWIS    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Below the gardens and the darkening pines
Last Line: An ancient speech, hushed in tremendous ease.
Alternate Author Name(s): Winters, Janet Lewis; Winters, Yvor, Mrs.
Subject(s): Carmel, California


CARMEL POINT, by ROBINSON JEFFERS    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The extraordinary patience of things!
Last Line: As the rock and ocean that we were made from
Subject(s): Carmel, California; Nature; Patience


CARMEL POINT, by ROBINSON JEFFERS    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The extraordinary patience of things!
Last Line: As the rock and ocean that we were made from
Subject(s): Carmel, California; Nature; Patience


CARMEL POINT, by MARGARET P. MACSWEENEY    Poem Source                    
First Line: I watched a sea anemone
Subject(s): Carmel, California


CARRISO GORGE, by BENJAMIN FRANKLIN FIELD    Poem Text                    
First Line: Eastward the wise men sought to find a pass
Last Line: And spun his steel along carriso gorge.
Alternate Author Name(s): Field, Ben
Subject(s): Carrizo Gorge, California; Mountain Passes


CHANSON D'OUTRE TOMBE, by PHILIP WHALEN    Poem Source                    
First Line: They said we was nowhere
Last Line: Wrecking your white expensive world
Subject(s): California, Pennsylvania; Nuclear Waste


CHAPLIN'S SMILE, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Chaplin's smile at the end
Last Line: We had dreamed
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


CHILD, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
Last Line: Is a mind %apart
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


CHRISTENING, by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: From our bed we take time
Last Line: Body embracing its own
Subject(s): California; Cities


CODE OF WHITE BREAD, by GARY SOTO    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: My stepfather said, it's dog-eat-dog
Last Line: It was dog-eat-dog
Subject(s): San Joaquin Valley, California


COLOR, by ESTHER YARNELL    Poem Text                    
First Line: The sun is a golden bowl
Last Line: Waves of color bathe the earth.
Subject(s): California; Colors


CONNOISSEUR'S GUIDE TO THE BAY AREA: 10. BIRDIES SING AND EVERYTHING, by GILBERT SORRENTINO    Poem Source         Poet Analysis            
First Line: Friends, one of the facts
Last Line: Doth glint. Or smiling jump off same
Subject(s): Diving And Divers; Food And Eating; Marine Animals; Restaurants; San Francisco Bay, California


CORN SEED, by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: This angle of moon
Last Line: Then we greet each other, this old woman and me, %while we listen to %all the movement in my house
Subject(s): California; Cities


CREAM'S SONG, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Little baby, lying peaceful, in her daddy's folded arms
Last Line: The world's got its own motion -- it'll take you for quite a ride
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


CRIMES OF THE DAY CLARIFIED, by GARY SOTO    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The severed forearm stands like a sapling in the river's mud
Last Line: The eggs they break drool blood in a batter of lopsided cakes
Subject(s): San Joaquin Valley, California


DAISY, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: The sun is shining
Last Line: As our greatest leader, a daisy
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


DAWN AND DUSK - SAN DIEGO, by CHARLES PHILLIPS (1880-1933)    Poem Text                    
First Line: Quick as the waking laughter of a child
Last Line: Against the night's dark breast.
Subject(s): Dawn; Dusk; San Diego, California; Sunrise


DAWN AT SAN DIEGO, by CINCINNATUS HEINE MILLER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My city sits amid her palms
Last Line: Sweet dawn, and two sweet doves were there.
Alternate Author Name(s): Miller, Joaquin
Subject(s): San Diego, California


DAY AND NIGHT, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Like a drop
Last Line: The one apart %the night
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


DECLARATION, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: In my mother's house
Last Line: With its birds %birds
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


DING REPAIR, by PETER GIZZI            Poet Analysis         Recitation by Author     Poet's Biography
First Line: There are too many skateboards here, too many waves
Subject(s): California; Conduct Of Life; Surfing


DIRT, by GARY SOTO    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The philosopher says, the soil is man's intelligence
Last Line: Lifted and falling from my hoe
Subject(s): San Joaquin Valley, California


DOCENT AT THE CITY MORGUE, by GARY SOTO    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: This is mr. Powell, his mustache twitching
Last Line: Later, the bravest mourners will kiss them closed
Subject(s): San Joaquin Valley, California


DOG WHO WALKED WITH GOD, by MICHAEL J. ROSEN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Water, they say, was everywhere
Last Line: Everything grown %and still growing
Subject(s): California; Creation; Kato Indians; Legends, Native American; Native Americans


DOLL SHOP ON RODEO DRIVE, by VIRGINIA WEBB JULAVITS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Dylan thomas, the bulbous
Subject(s): Beverly Hills, California; Dolls; Retail Trade; Toys


DOME, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: My whole life
Last Line: At the same time %eternity
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


DOMESTIC SCENE, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: A child plays in a room
Last Line: He smiles and nods and says 'yes'
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


DREAM, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I dreamed I found out
Last Line: And the world was a perfect situation
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


DREAMING OF FIRE ON THE NIGHT IT RAINED, by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: I am trapped in a house owned by strangers with white skin. I do not
Last Line: Watering the dry, dry wood. For now it is all I can do
Subject(s): California; Cities


DREAMS ON THE WALL, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Dreams on the wall I saw
Last Line: What as wrong with that nurse
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


DRY GRASS & OLD COLOR OF THE FENCE & SMOOTH HILLS, by LINDA GREGG    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The women are at home in this california town
Subject(s): Women; California; Family Life


DUKE ELLINGTON AT DISNEYLAND, by AL DANIELSEN    Poem Source                    
First Line: When a mother approached with pad and pencil and told him
Last Line: Duke ellington paid to survive, as fans %rushed off, pocketing autographs, to pirates and boat rides
Subject(s): Autographs; Disneyland, California; Ellington, Edward Kennedy ("duke")


EARLY MORNING IN MIDTOWN, by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: You can't get me
Last Line: No, you can't get me
Subject(s): California; Cities


EGRET: BOLINAS LAGOON, 1986, by WILLIAM WITHERUP    Poem Source                    
First Line: Morning. Soap-shaving of a moon
Last Line: And makes of his leave-taking %a metaphor
Subject(s): Bolinas, California; Classmates; Schools; Teaching And Teachers


ELEMENTS OF SAN JOAQUIN: DAYBREAK, by GARY SOTO    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: In this moment when the light starts up
Last Line: And nothing will heal %under the rain's broken fingers
Subject(s): Dawn; Farm Life; San Joaquin Valley, California


ELEMENTS OF SAN JOAQUIN: FIELD, by GARY SOTO    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The wind sprays pale dirt into my mouth
Last Line: A soil that sprouts nothing %for any of us
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Farm Life; Minorities - United States; San Joaquin Valley, California; U.s. - Race Relations


ELEMENTS OF SAN JOAQUIN: FOG, by GARY SOTO    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: If you go to your window
Last Line: There should be no reason to believe %I lived
Subject(s): Farm Life; Fog; San Joaquin Valley, California


ELEMENTS OF SAN JOAQUIN: RAIN, by GARY SOTO    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: When autumn rains flatten sycamore leaves
Last Line: The skin of my belly will tighten like a belt %and there will be no reason for pockets
Subject(s): Farm Life; Rain; San Joaquin Valley, California


ELEMENTS OF SAN JOAQUIN: STARS, by GARY SOTO    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: At dusk the first stars appear
Last Line: And an orange moon rises %to lead them, like a shepherd, toward dawn
Subject(s): Farm Life; San Joaquin Valley, California; Stars


ELEMENTS OF SAN JOAQUIN: SUN, by GARY SOTO    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: In june the sun is a bonnet of light
Last Line: In a most of blond locusts, %returning to the valley
Subject(s): Farm Life; San Joaquin Valley, California; Sun


ELEMENTS OF SAN JOAQUIN: WIND, by GARY SOTO    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: A dry wind over the valley
Last Line: And I take on another life
Subject(s): Farm Life; San Joaquin Valley, California; Wind


ELEMENTS OF SAN JOAQUIN: WIND (2), by GARY SOTO    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: When you got up this morning the sun
Last Line: Was moving under your skin and already far %from the small hives of your lungs
Subject(s): San Joaquin Valley, California; Wind


EPIGRAMME, by WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Hast ever seen man
Last Line: I turn up this nugget.
Subject(s): California – Gold Discoveries


ERASERS, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Erasers. The smell of them. The look
Last Line: Couldn't wrestle. I was a serious kid
Subject(s): Bolinas, California; Erasers


EUGENIO MONTALE IN CALIFORNIA, by ANDREI CODRESCU    Poem Source                    
First Line: And here where a new life
Last Line: Your words, like the scales on a dying fish, %flash into sunset
Subject(s): California; Montale, Eugenio (1896-1981)


EVEN AFTER SHE LEAVES, by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: Light has been carried into this house
Last Line: To the same dark soil
Subject(s): California; Cities


EVENING ON THE LAWN, by GARY SOTO    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I sat on the lawn watching the half-hearted moon rise
Last Line: And strike our childhood houses %with lightning
Subject(s): San Joaquin Valley, California


EVERYTHING IS GOING ABOUT ITS BUSINESS, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: The plums are ripening
Last Line: People are getting in accidents, dying, and being saved
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


EVERYTHING'S A FAKE, by FANNY HOWE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Coyote scruff in canyons off mulholland drive. Fragrance of sage and rosemary, now
Last Line: But a symptom nonetheless
Subject(s): City & Town Life; Social Commentary; California


EVERYTHING'S A FAKE, by FANNY HOWE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Coyote scruff in canyons off mulholland drive. Fragrance of sage
Subject(s): California


EVERYTHING'S A FAKE, by FANNY HOWE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Coyote scruff in canyons off mulholland drive. Fragrance of sage
Last Line: There, a mild one, but a symptom nonetheless
Subject(s): California


EXILE, by THEODORE MAYNARD    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Here where the season swiftly turns
Subject(s): California; England


FAILED TRIBUTE TO THE STONEMASON OF TOR HOUSE, ROBINSON JEFFERS, by JAMES TATE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: We traveled down to see your house
Subject(s): Disappointment; Carmel, California; Jeffers, Robinson (1887-1962)


FATHER'S STORY, by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: Each night the boy cries. The next morning a tiny white stone
Last Line: One stone our name
Subject(s): California; Cities


FIELD I STAND BEFORE, by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: I spent so many years crouching
Last Line: In this wet, sore skin
Subject(s): California; Cities


FINDING THE CENTER, by LAWSON FUSAO INADA    Poem Source                    
First Line: Charles and I had played there all along
Last Line: Of the state %of %california
Subject(s): California; Farm Life; Geography; Labor And Laborers


FIRST ACROSS THE SANDS, by JOHN RUSSELL MCCARTHY    Poem Text                    
First Line: Juan bautista de anza
Last Line: And stands in california.
Subject(s): Anza, Juan Bautista De (1736-1788); California; Explorers; Exploring; Discovery; Discoverers


FIRST TIME I TRIED TO HAVE SEX, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
Last Line: The natural flow of breath
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


FISH, by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: I enter %to know the sound
Last Line: But is hardly spoken %out loud
Subject(s): California; Cities


FIST-FIGHT, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: You have a fist-fight
Last Line: Stop, okay?
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


FIVE NIGHTS OF RAIN, by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: Open-throated, %wanting more
Last Line: Hear me, so %relentless the rain
Subject(s): California; Cities


FLORENTINO DIAZ, by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: Has already figured out
Last Line: A greeting nobody else could see
Subject(s): California; Cities


FLUFFY'S POOLSIDE CRIME, by GARY SOTO    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Marvin, penny-pincher, seller of red velour to mexicans
Last Line: Turds floated on water, even in a rich man's pool
Subject(s): San Joaquin Valley, California


FLYING ABOVE CALIFORNIA, by THOMSON WILLIAM GUNN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Spread beneath me it lies - lean upland
Last Line: That accuracy of the beaches, %is part of the ultimate richness
Alternate Author Name(s): Gunn, Thom
Subject(s): California


FOR ARMENAK SAROYAN, MY GRANDFATHER, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: At thirty-six, the story goes
Last Line: I can forgive you
Subject(s): Bolinas, California; Grandparents


FOR BORIS PASTERNAK, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Your spirit informs a new air, a new
Last Line: You have made it rarer to me
Subject(s): Bolinas, California; Pasternak, Boris (1890-1960)


FOR GAILYN, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: You are the beginning and he end of
Last Line: Turning the soft earth
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


FOR GAILYN, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I have loved you
Last Line: For - yet I saw
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


FOR JAN AS THE END DRAWS NEAR, by CAROLYN KIZER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: We never believed in safety
Last Line: The present is this poem, o my dear.
Subject(s): Aging; California; Friendship; Women; Women's Rights; Feminism


FOR JIM CARROLL, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: They've discovered a particle
Last Line: You're meant to be there
Subject(s): Bolinas, California; Carroll, Jim (b. 1951); Poetry And Poets


FOR LEWIS MACADAMS, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I can always count on you and phoebe
Last Line: Keep that in mind, will you
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


FOR PAUL BLACKBURN, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: The other night
Last Line: I could finally, as in the beginning, admire %your craft, yes but for song
Subject(s): Blackburn, Paul (1925-1971); Bolinas, California; Poetry And Poets


FOR RICHARD BRAUTIGAN, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Your writing reminds me
Last Line: Beaming proudly
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


FOR TOM CLARK, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Big city boys come out
Last Line: And getting better and better all the time
Subject(s): Bolinas, California; Clark, Tom; Poetry And Poets


FOR VOZNESENSKY, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I dig you
Last Line: Walking through our lives
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


FORT ORD, CALIFORNIA, 1953: 1. CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR, by HENRY CARLILE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Through dust deepened by others
Last Line: Protested to the dust. For what? %there will be other wars, he said
Subject(s): California - Gold Discoveries; War


FOUR HAIKU (AFTER TALKING WITH DAVID), by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: It begins here -- %young men vanish in the night
Last Line: It commands no one
Subject(s): California; Cities


FOUR POEMS: 1. POEM, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: The mountain is only a while from here
Last Line: My father and mother one in me
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


FOUR POEMS: 2. FOR MY DAUGHTER STRAWBERRY, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: At nine, your integrity
Last Line: As unique as anything that makes you laugh
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


FOUR POEMS: 3. FOR GAILYN, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: You do your paintings
Last Line: Now that it's night outside
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


FOUR POEMS: 4. ABOUT POETRY, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: There's nothing to it
Last Line: I'd forgotten it could just be, nothing
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


FREEWAY, by WILLIAM WITHERUP    Poem Source                    
First Line: An infected vein %carrying filth to and from the city
Last Line: To enclose the view %and muffle the screams
Subject(s): Automobile Drivers; Berkeley, California; Cities


FRESNO, by LAWSON FUSAO INADA    Poem Source                    
First Line: Fresno, california's eighth largest city, is the financial headquarters
Last Line: Watered by want, the spirit thrives
Subject(s): Asian Americans - Japanese; California; Ethnic Groups - United States


FRIENDLY PERSUASION, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: The body and the mind
Last Line: And almost immediately they have a child
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


FRIENDSHIP, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Friendship makes its aims
Last Line: Or uphold -- to stitch the world fast %with affection
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


FULL MOON ODE, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: A full moon tonight
Last Line: Than it will in a little while
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


GAILYN'S BOUQUET, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Gailyn picked a bouquet
Last Line: Just like her, I thought
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


GENIUS LOCI, by BRIAN TEARE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Make it / the place
Subject(s): Oakland, California; City & Town Life; Life Choices


GETTING MY CAR REPAIRED, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I take the city of san rafael
Last Line: As the morning light rose outside
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


GEYSERS, by THOMSON WILLIAM GUNN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Gentle as breathing
Last Line: I am raw meat %I am a god
Alternate Author Name(s): Gunn, Thom
Subject(s): Geysers; Sonoma County, California


GIL MENDEZ AND THE METAPHYSICS OF A BLIMP, by GARY SOTO    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Why would anyone-lost child, thief
Last Line: Of autumn leaves fluttering back into the trees
Subject(s): San Joaquin Valley, California


GOLD RUSH: 1848/1996, by ALANE ROLLINGS    Poem Source                    
First Line: The motorcycle cop was performing rodeo stunts
Last Line: Never knew what might go gold
Subject(s): California - Gold Discoveries


GOLDFISH BOWL BY MATISSE, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I hear the cars
Last Line: Between the real and its reflections
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


GOOD BUY IN BEVERLY HILLS, by GARY SOTO    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: My realtor friend says, the house is haunted
Last Line: Everything except talent and a place inside them for a soul
Subject(s): San Joaquin Valley, California


GOOD MORNING! WAKE UP SACRAMENTO!, by JACK BERNIER    Poem Source                    
First Line: Stock brokers are always
Last Line: Make this a great day for residents
Subject(s): Brokers; Sacramento, California


GREAT AMERICAN NOVEL, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I don't want to write the great american novel
Last Line: Himself would be lost to me forever, and I would be lonely
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


GREEN BRAE: STAGE FOR SAN QUENTIN, by RUTH CLAY PRICE    Poem Text                    
First Line: I came here every spring to play
Last Line: But all I see is a prison wall.
Subject(s): San Quentin Prison, California


GREETING, by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: The boy with yellow hair
Last Line: Pleased as he calls out, 'tonto.'
Subject(s): California; Cities


GRINDING COFFEE, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Grinding coffee was my favorite pastime
Last Line: I smoothed it with my finger, contented
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


GROWING UP IN HOLLYWOOD, 1939-1957, by STEPHEN BEAL    Poem Source                    
First Line: I am not happy in the west
Last Line: Now how is that for irony
Subject(s): Hollywood, California; Motion Pictures


HABITAT: TIME AND PLACE, by CLARENCE MAJOR    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: This is out by the stand of windbreak-trees, under
Last Line: It keeps me down to size
Subject(s): Birds; California; Fields; Herbs; Nature


HAVEN OF THE SWALLOWS, by LILLIAN PARCEL    Poem Text                    
First Line: The padres walk again the trodden ground
Last Line: The padre souls will bless the swallow band.
Subject(s): San Juan Capistrano, California; Swallows


HEADWATERS, by LAWSON FUSAO INADA    Poem Source                    
First Line: Headwaters %of the sacramento
Last Line: Headwaters %spirits %rise
Subject(s): Sacramento, California; Travel


HIGHWAY 66, by JAMES LAUGHLIN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Is the absolute road to
Last Line: Is going to be 100 percent okay
Subject(s): California; Roads


HILLS OF CALIFORNIA, by CYRUS CASWELL JOHNSON    Poem Text                    
First Line: I can hear the padres chanting in the early golden air
Last Line: On the hills of california in the morning.
Subject(s): California; Mountains; Hills; Downs (great Britain)


HOLLYWOOD, by DON BLANDING    Poem Source                    
First Line: Hollywood ... Hollywood
Last Line: Perhaps you're a goddess that bears a bright beacon
Subject(s): Hollywood, California; Motion Pictures


HOLLYWOOD, by JONATHAN HOLDEN    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: It's 1937 on the sound-stage
Last Line: Has been settled %for over fifty years
Variant Title(s): Hollywoo
Subject(s): Hollywood, California


HOLLYWOOD, by JOSEPH W. NUGENT    Poem Source                    
First Line: Movies show the warrior falling
Subject(s): Hollywood, California; Motion Pictures


HOLLYWOOD BOWL, by RENA CAREY SHEFFIELD    Poem Text                    
First Line: An interlude. The clamor hushed with breathless cry
Last Line: Then shatter into soundless rhythms of the night.
Subject(s): Hollywood Bowl, California


HOLLYWOOD NOCTURNE, by JANE BOWER    Poem Text                    
First Line: The tired boulevard
Last Line: So young -- is old.
Subject(s): Hollywood, California


HOUSE, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: The house is like a parent
Last Line: His mind, my mind, the house, and the sky
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


HOW TO BE AN AMERICAN POET, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: The secret of poetry is to start simple
Last Line: The american poet must save the actual earth of his own %voice
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


HUNGER FOR ART, by GARY SOTO    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: When I died, my work went into my mother's attic
Last Line: He swallowed that button: art is the last thing %left to eat
Subject(s): San Joaquin Valley, California


I NEVER HEAR MYSELF SLEEPING, by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: Never know what triggers
Last Line: My tiny jagged grin
Subject(s): California; Cities


I PLAYED LITTLE LEAGUE, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
Last Line: And sat watching, I hit a home run
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


I'M THE MISSISSIPPI, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I'm the mississippi. Nothing
Last Line: I embrace it, and it becomes me, the mississippi
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


ICELAND, by DORIANNE LAUX            Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The girl's bathroom is titled in pink
Subject(s): Berkeley, California; Girls; Women


ICELAND, by DORIANNE LAUX    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The girl's bathroom is titled in pink
Last Line: The withered scraps, like petals, into the sink
Subject(s): Berkeley, California; Girls; Women


IMMACULATE ROOM, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I wake up in an immaculate room
Last Line: I see the blood and scream for my mother
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


IN A ROOM NAMED SHIMMER, by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: The woman folds underwear
Last Line: And longing more insistent
Subject(s): California; Cities


IN AMERICA YELLOW IS STILL AN INSULT, by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: I want to know why cowards are called yellow
Last Line: And know the legacy of insult
Subject(s): California; Cities


IN CALIFORNIA, by DONALD DAVIE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Chemicals ripen the citrus
Subject(s): California


IN CALIFORNIA, by ARTHUR PETERSON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Can pen of mine describe thee, beauteous land
Last Line: Now would I rest, and give my days to peace!
Subject(s): California


IN CALIFORNIA, by LOUIS SIMPSON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Here I am, troubling the dream coast
Subject(s): California


IN CALIFORNIA, by LOUIS SIMPSON    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Here I am, troubling the dream coast
Subject(s): California


IN CALIFORNIA DURING THE GULF WAR, by DENISE LEVERTOV    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Among the blight-killed eucalypts, among
Subject(s): California; Gulf War (1991); Operation Desert Storm (1991)


IN CALIFORNIA DURING THE GULF WAR, by DENISE LEVERTOV    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Among the blight-killed eucalypts, among
Last Line: Were not doves, there was no rainbow. And when it was claimed %the war had ended, it had not ended
Subject(s): California; Gulf War (1991)


IN CALIFORNIA: MORNING, EVENING, LATE JANUARY, by DENISE LEVERTOV    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Pale, then enkindled
Subject(s): California; Labor & Laborers; Nature; Work; Workers


IN CARMEL BAY, by MADGE CLOVER    Poem Text                    
First Line: In carmel bay the fleeting day
Last Line: She steps into the night.
Subject(s): Carmel Bay, California; Night; Sea; Bedtime; Ocean


IN CENTRAL EUROPE, by TOMAZ SALAMUN    Poem Source                    
First Line: When you cross through the grass in central europe, you see
Last Line: When the bamboo grows, %when the bamboo reaches the sipapuni%when each ring reaches the sipapuni %th
Subject(s): Bolinas, California; Europe; Forests; Grass; Roads; Travel


IN GREECE, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: As %the %kids
Last Line: Dancing %dancing %dancing
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


IN MONTECITO, by RANDALL JARRELL            Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: In a fashionable suburb of santa barbara
Subject(s): California


IN MONTECITO, by RANDALL JARRELL    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: In a fashionable suburb of santa barbara
Last Line: And greenie has gone into the greater monecito %that surrounds montecito like the echo of a scream
Subject(s): California


IN MY OWN LANGUAGE, by CLARENCE MAJOR    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: We can't cut this timber
Last Line: Only as I learn to speak it
Subject(s): Language; Santa Cruz Mountains, California


IN PRAISE OF CALIFORNIA WINES, by YVOR WINTERS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Amid these clear and windy hills
Last Line: In sunlight vanish quite away
Subject(s): California; Wine


IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, by CINCINNATUS HEINE MILLER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Where the cocoa and cactus are neighbors
Last Line: And under my fig and my vine.
Alternate Author Name(s): Miller, Joaquin
Subject(s): California


IN TEHACHAPI, by DAVID STARR JORDAN    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Cold is the wind upon the mountain side
Last Line: Thy face, teháchapi!
Subject(s): Longing; Man-woman Relationships; Tehachapi, California; Male-female Relations


IN THE YARD FACING THE OCEAN: A ROOTS COMPOSITION, by CLARENCE MAJOR    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Below the surface of the sea a place full of jawless and boneless
Last Line: Are leaving in the morning
Subject(s): California; Seashore; Swimming; Water; Waves


IT WAS OVERLAND THE RED, by HENRY (HARRY) HERBERT KNIBBS    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: If you're askin' my opinion, well, said overland the red
Last Line: "... In concludin' ... We'll stand up and drink again."
Subject(s): California; Toasts


IT'S A SMALL SMALL WORLD; THE HOLOGRAPHIC UNIVERSITY ACCORDING TO ..., by SUSAN SONDE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Is everywhere at once
Last Line: The fairy tale our lives had come to be
Subject(s): Disneyland, California; Earth; Size And Shape


JOHN CHARLES FREMONT, by CHARLES FLETCHER LUMMIS    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Pathfinder - and path-clincher!
Last Line: And benton found the man!
Subject(s): California; Fremont, John Charles (1813-1890); West (u.s.) - Exploration


JOHN LENNON, 1940-1980, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I wish I could see into
Last Line: When it said %john lennon
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


JOHN SUTTER, by YVOR WINTERS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I was the patriarch of the shining land
Subject(s): California - Gold Discoveries; Sutter, John (1803-1880); Failure; Gold Rush; Forty-niners


JOURNEY SOUTH, by LAWSON FUSAO INADA    Poem Source                    
First Line: How have you been, %my beautiful friend
Last Line: Bless us, %eucalyptus
Subject(s): California; Immigrants; Travel; United States


JOURNEY'S END, SANTA BARBARA, by CAROL LEE SANCHEZ    Poem Source                    
First Line: Any point on a circle
Last Line: That's what %she sd)
Subject(s): Santa Barbara, California


JUDGE A MAN BY HIS ENEMIES, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
Last Line: They're almost the same, in the end
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


JUNIOR HIGH REUNION, by GARY SOTO    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The best-looking women married five times
Last Line: My poor tongue swollen from the salt of her working years
Subject(s): San Joaquin Valley, California


JUST CALIFORNIA, by JOHN STEVEN MCGROARTY    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Twixt the seas and the deserts
Last Line: The middle of the world.
Subject(s): California; Creation; God; Nature - Religious Aspects


KEATS IN CALIFORNIA, by PHILIP LEVINE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The wisterai has come and gone, the plum trees
Subject(s): Keats, John (1795-1821); California


KUMQUAT SEED DANCER, by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: Last night I saw
Last Line: My own face %recognized in gesture
Subject(s): California; Cities


LA JOLLA, 1943-1993, by JEANNE EMMONS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Here in the cove at la jolla
Last Line: Being carried over a threshold
Subject(s): La Jolla, California; Love - Marital; Parents; Romance


LAS CASAS, by MICHAEL HOFMANN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I leaned round the corner in a gold rush town
Last Line: A percussive crash, a surprisingly durable cloud. Jubilation, and no eyes raised
Subject(s): California - Gold Discoveries


LAST MERMOTHER, by ANNIE FINCH    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I used to fish in san francisco bay
Last Line: A crust of sand still thickening on the edge %of its quiet bones
Subject(s): Mothers; San Francisco Bay, California


LENIN'S SEQUOIA, by ANDREI VOZNESENSKY    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: In car-infested california
Last Line: There's no sequoia? %yes, there is!
Alternate Author Name(s): Voznesenskii, Andrei
Subject(s): California; Sequoia Trees


LESSONS FROM CENTRAL AMERICA, by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: Always start with the male children
Last Line: And shoes for their feet
Subject(s): California; Cities


LEXICON, by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: Try not to be insulted
Last Line: Don't expect them to ask us our real names. %don't even try
Subject(s): California; Cities


LIFE IS A DREAM, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
Last Line: To be us instead. We are alive and dead
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


LIFE IS NO ARRIVAL, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Life is no arrival. The day goes
Last Line: These lines are written on the run
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


LINES FOR MY AUTOBIOGRAPHY, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I put the food on my sister's plate
Last Line: The life of a poet is beautiful
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


LIVING DEAD, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: The living dead walk among us
Last Line: Of death's presence deep inside your body
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


LONG WAY FROM HERE, by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: Two boys sleep %by the trunk of a banyan tree
Last Line: Fall asleep in each other's arms, %lightheaded and full
Subject(s): California; Cities


LOST COAST, CALIFORNIA, by STEPHANIE BROWN    Poem Source                    
First Line: These people left. They disappeared from our shores, down south
Last Line: We drove all the way up, but we went all the way back
Subject(s): California; Seashore


LOST LOVE, by GARY SOTO    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The girl we all loved married a meat packer in hayward
Last Line: The husband of the girl we all loved couldn't pick up the check
Subject(s): San Joaquin Valley, California


LOVE, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: The beauty of a summer evening
Last Line: And no more one another than love
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


LOVE POEM, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I wake up in the morning
Last Line: With you beside me
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


LOVE'S BOUNTY, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I looked through my love's eye
Last Line: And catch your eyes
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


LUNAR ECLIPSE: HALE-BOPP OVER PALO ALTO, by MARY QUADE    Poem Source                    
First Line: We are not surprised to see the moon decay
Last Line: Where the earth shifts, where damage is usually irreparable
Subject(s): California; Eclipses


MADNESS, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I used to believe that nobody was really crazy
Last Line: But I believe the power of good is of greater force, in the %end
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


MARBLEHEAD, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: The first time I walked into the bookstore
Last Line: Drove us through the deserted streets at top speed to the %hospital
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


MARIN HEADLANDS, by JANE MILLER    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Grief as we know it
Last Line: Bugless and treeless and airless and waterless and sunless.
Subject(s): California; Conversation; Knowledge


MARLON BRANDO, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: My mother knew marlon brando
Last Line: In the movie magazines
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


MARRIAGE, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Marriage knits our lives
Last Line: So transparently alive
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


MARTHA GOETZ, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Martha goetz was a friend of my mother's
Last Line: And was unable to give lucy or me much of herself
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


MEDITATION AT LAGUNITAS, by ROBERT HASS    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: All the new thinking is about loss
Subject(s): California; Deconstructionism; Language; Longing; Words; Vocabulary


MEDITATION AT LAGUNITAS, by ROBERT HASS    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: All the new thinking is about loss
Last Line: Such tenderness, those afternoons and evenings, %saying blacberry, blackberry, blackbrry
Subject(s): California; Deconstructionism; Language; Longing


MENDOCINO, by CLARENCE MAJOR    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I could lose myself in great bursts of work
Last Line: Something reusable like leftovers, %bouillabaisse perhaps
Subject(s): Maps; Mendocino, California; Travel


METAPHOR OF GRASS IN CALIFORNIA, by CHARLES MARTIN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The seeds of certain grasses that once grew
Last Line: As such men fall, these fell, but silently
Subject(s): Literary Form; California; Grass


MIND IS A MEDIUM, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
Last Line: Of itself in the cosmos
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


MINIMUM WAGE, by GARY SOTO    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: No one called but a cat
Last Line: With the eraser of a chewed pencil [or, I never got a single step closer]
Subject(s): Animals; Cats; San Joaquin Valley, California; Unemployment


MONO LAKE, by JACOB ZEITLIN    Poem Text                    
First Line: The black lines of hills chant a slow threnody
Last Line: And all the days dark days.
Alternate Author Name(s): Zeitlin, Jake
Subject(s): Mono Lake, California


MONTALVO, by JOHN E. RICHARDS    Poem Text                    
First Line: Within the patio I sit; a paroquet
Last Line: And lo! The terrestrial paradise is here!
Subject(s): Montalvo, California


MORTGAGE, by GARY SOTO    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The dead man lay with a plum in his throat. His left hand
Last Line: With a pen in one hand, a thirty-year mortgage in the other
Subject(s): San Joaquin Valley, California


MOTHER'S DAY POEM TO MYSELF, by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: Your cord took ten days to fall off
Last Line: Finally feel the cut
Subject(s): California; Cities


MOUNT TAMALPAIS, by ELLA STERLING MIGHELS    Poem Text                    
First Line: Home of the elements - where battling bands
Last Line: Behold the scar is not!
Alternate Author Name(s): Esmeralda, Aurora
Subject(s): Tamalpais, Mount (california)


MOVIES WHEN I WAS A KID, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
Last Line: Behind the rocks I saw first when I was a kid
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


MR. STUMOLA, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Mr. Stumola was my gym teacher when I was in the first
Last Line: So long ago in my child's-time that the gesture was almost %empty
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


MUCHAS GRACIAS, by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: Just about everyone in california
Last Line: Being in love with the wrong man, %muchas mucha-kucha
Subject(s): California; Cities


MY AUNT COSETTE, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: My aunt cosette is a saint
Last Line: Before she was ten
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


MY FATHER OWNED A GUN ONCE, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
Last Line: A house in pacific palisades for mom, lucy and me
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


MY FATHER WRITING, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: My father sits at his desk
Last Line: And whose relatives, like himself, are all crazy
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


MY FATHER'S FLIGHT, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: My father wrote circles around
Last Line: That it's the singer not he song
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


MY FIRST ACID TRIP, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: My first acid trip happened one summer night
Last Line: No matter what happened
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


MY FRIENDS, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: My friends, don't fear
Last Line: And they fill him with love to go on living
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


MY GRANDMOTHER, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: My grandmother lives on park avenue now
Last Line: She had it too hard at first, it's too soft now
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


MY MOTHER AND MY FATHER, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: My mother has it in her
Last Line: I remember my mother's mother was almost as young %as my mother
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


MY MOTHER AND NEW YORK, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: My mother has new york in her blood
Last Line: I heard about it later from my mother
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


MY NEIGHBORHOOD: PACIFIC PALISADS IN THE FIFTIES, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Jay danley would lie around all day on his folks' lawn
Last Line: Screaming at george, kathy & gail: oh, fuck you! Fuck all of you
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


MY SISTERS, THE OYSTERS, by MARCIA SOUTHWICK    Poem Source                    
First Line: I feel like the striped pacific bonito that can't stop swimming
Last Line: Cantilevered into the cliffs of monterey
Subject(s): California; Cities; Oysters; Pacific Ocean; Sea


NEW AMERICAN MUSE, by ROBERT SCHAEFFER PHILLIPS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Is blonde and lives in california
Subject(s): Blondes; California; Free Will And Determinism


NIGHT, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: The night is so
Last Line: As the stars themselves
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


NIGHT FLIGHT, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: My mother, a sorceress, demonstrated
Last Line: My daughter is crying again
Subject(s): Bolinas, California; Mothers


NIGHT-TIME, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: My wife is reading, my daughter's asleep
Last Line: Comforting, the end of another day
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


NO PAROLE TODAY, by LAURA TOHE    Poem Source                    
First Line: A shadow of smoke passed
Last Line: A thousand men uncapped themselves behind barbed wire and smoke
Subject(s): California; Justice; Native Americans; Prisons And Prisoners; Racism; Riots


NO SMOKING, PLEASE, by GARY SOTO    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Cigar smoke can't come into the famous-actor's house
Last Line: The dog, and, alas, the cigar with no lips to give the plot away [or, with no lips to keep it alive]
Subject(s): Motion Pictures; San Joaquin Valley, California; Smoking


NOCTURNE: IN CALIFORNIA, by JAMES RORTY    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The cold hills of california by night
Last Line: Lovely and vagrant, virginal and shy.
Subject(s): California


NOON AT MONTEREY, by CHARLES PHILLIPS (1880-1933)    Poem Text                    
First Line: A sail upon the blue, a little mist
Last Line: My love!
Subject(s): Monterey, California; Noon


NORTH OF SANTA MONICA, by CARTER REVARD    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: It's midnight in a drizzling fog
Last Line: As the jay peers out through thorns, %and the lines of white surf whisper in
Alternate Author Name(s): Nompewathe
Subject(s): California


NOTES FROM CENTRAL CALIFORNIA; SANTA BARBARA, by CAROL LEE SANCHEZ    Poem Source                    
First Line: We missed the parade that night
Last Line: Renamed, replaced %re-invented on the spot
Subject(s): Santa Barbara, California


NOW THE STARLIT MOONLESS SPRING, by KENNETH REXROTH    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Last Line: After they have had their coffee
Subject(s): California; Love; Paris, France; Spring


O MY GENERATION, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
Last Line: And the cat is also hungry
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


ODE TO MICHAEL J. BRODEY, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: When you were writing checks to strangers
Last Line: Brought a shovel in off the street and sold it for art
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


ODE TO POWER, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Power comes on strong
Last Line: Don't let it overpower you, use it
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


ODE TO THE UNIVERSE, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Let me know intimately
Last Line: To be aware of your life
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


OH TO BE IN LONDON, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
Last Line: Of honesty in its way
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


OLD MAN'S BELIEF, by GARY SOTO    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The skateboarder with blackheads ran into a wall
Last Line: That explode, like faith, before they reach untouchable heaven
Subject(s): San Joaquin Valley, California


OLD ROOSTER'S SOLILOQUY, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: My son began singing one morning at daybreak
Last Line: Now I'm somewhere else inside his startled eyes
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


ON BEING A POET, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Being a poet has meant something special to me
Last Line: They let me know I should sit down and write
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


ON HEARING THE CLIMATE OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PRAISED, by ETHEL MARY DAVIS    Poem Text                    
First Line: There are some places where
Last Line: And my delight is an unknown tomorrow.
Subject(s): California; Deserts; Food & Eating


ON LEAVING CALIFORNIA, by BAYARD TAYLOR    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: O fair young land, the youngest, fairest far
Last Line: Restored again in thee!
Alternate Author Name(s): Taylor, James Bayard
Subject(s): California


ONCE, by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: The moon and my body
Last Line: Their longing into the bleeding ground
Subject(s): California; Cities


ONE DAY IN MAY, by GARY SOTO    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: With one window of the labor bus gone
Last Line: To the lovely morsels of high tea
Subject(s): San Joaquin Valley, California


ONE NIGHT, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: One night when I was nine or ten
Last Line: And he was playing mozart
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


ORCHID, by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: So stark %in the way it opens itself
Last Line: The place where it bleeds
Subject(s): California; Cities


OROVILLE HIGH, CALIFORNIA, by MAURICE KENNY    Poem Source                    
First Line: I can't believe I'm eating a cheeseburg
Last Line: Not even their own
Subject(s): California; Education; High School Students; Teaching And Teachers


OUT OF NECESSITY, by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: Waking up alone %has become my new year's
Last Line: I've just seen angels
Subject(s): California; Cities


PAGE, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I make myself still
Last Line: The page, all one %so still
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


PAGEANT; LOS GATOS, JUNE, 1925, by KATHLEEN NORRIS (1880-1966)    Poem Text                    
First Line: On whitewashed walls falls shadow blue and cool
Last Line: Ramona creeping through the mustard bloom!
Alternate Author Name(s): Norris, Kathleen Thompson
Subject(s): California


PALM READER'S MISTAKES, by GARY SOTO    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The palm reader viewed a child's death
Last Line: Before the rifles came off the wall
Subject(s): San Joaquin Valley, California


PARABLE, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I let my hair down
Last Line: And then I took off my head
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


PARTCH STATIONS: 7. HE WANDERETH AS A HOBO, by JANET HOLMES    Poem Source                    
First Line: Getting a ride in california: could take days
Last Line: He hones his theories, he dreams his new works, %unhindered. And moves along
Subject(s): California; Hitchhikers


PASTORALE, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: It takes nerve
Last Line: Your closest neighbor has five kids
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


PHOTOGRAPHING ROCKS AT AGATE BEACH, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: How these tiny things speak to me
Last Line: Touched by a father in the wind
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


PHYSICAL FOR THE FIFTY-FIVE-AND-OVER RETIREMENT COMMUNITY, by GARY SOTO    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: You're in great shape, said the nurse, %and I asked, what part?
Last Line: Of an old man with shrubbery hanging his nose
Subject(s): San Joaquin Valley, California


PITCHING CHARITY TO THE FORTUNE 500, by GARY SOTO    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: That don't sell! The gray wig yelled
Last Line: By its leafy ears
Subject(s): San Joaquin Valley, California


PLACES: 2. FULL MOON (SANTA BARBARA), by SARA TEASDALE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I listened, there was not a sound to hear
Last Line: Tracing in crystal the slow way he came.
Alternate Author Name(s): Filsinger, Ernest B., Mrs.
Subject(s): Moon; Pacific Ocean; Santa Barbara, California


POEM, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I have lived to read pasternak
Last Line: Miracles of our time together
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


POEM, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: To walk with death
Last Line: And its raggedy ann
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


POEM, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I don't want to be a seer
Last Line: Differently each time
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


POEM, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: We are all made up of others
Last Line: We move, and it all moves
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


POEM, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: What makes my little son try
Last Line: And I kiss his ear and smell it
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


POEM WRITTEN DOWN IN THE DARK, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I lie in bed
Last Line: Ready for sleep
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


POINT LOMA BREEZES, by YETTA KAY STODDARD    Poem Text                    
First Line: Our south breeze is an actress, who skips with
Last Line: Jazzing shamelessly.
Subject(s): Point Loma, California; Wind


POINT LOMA SONNETS: 1. ON LOMA, by WINIFRED DAVIDSON    Poem Text                    
First Line: I have grown old on loma, I have seen
Last Line: My days have gone and go upon strewn foam.
Subject(s): Point Loma, California


POINT LOMA SONNETS: 10. CABRILLO, by WINIFRED DAVIDSON    Poem Text                    
First Line: Unbroken stillness where our canyons wind
Last Line: Victoria and high san salvador.
Subject(s): Cabrillo, Juan Rodriguez (d. 1543); Point Loma, California


POINT LOMA SONNETS: 11. VIZCAINO, by WINIFRED DAVIDSON    Poem Text                    
First Line: Cabrillo's visit to our loma hill
Last Line: The feet of lordly white men here again!
Subject(s): Point Loma, California; Vizcaino, Sebastian (1550-1616)


POINT LOMA SONNETS: 12. SUNRISE, by WINIFRED DAVIDSON    Poem Text                    
First Line: There where you lie now are you quite content
Last Line: With orange poppies, callas, wormwood, rue?
Subject(s): Point Loma, California


POINT LOMA SONNETS: 2. BENNINGTON, by WINIFRED DAVIDSON    Poem Text                    
First Line: Today I climbed to bennington and stayed
Last Line: Of songs at battle's close . . . Long quietudes.
Subject(s): Point Loma, California


POINT LOMA SONNETS: 3. EL VELO DEL SOL, by WINIFRED DAVIDSON    Poem Text                    
First Line: Two larks are lilting rain thoughts. Like long threads
Last Line: And swirl in wisps of dream about your feet.
Subject(s): Point Loma, California


POINT LOMA SONNETS: 4. SILENCES, by WINIFRED DAVIDSON    Poem Text                    
First Line: There are long silences where lost winds blow
Last Line: Blown to the sea; and as familiar.
Subject(s): Point Loma, California; Silence


POINT LOMA SONNETS: 5. GRAY, by WINIFRED DAVIDSON    Poem Text                    
First Line: Our days of gray on loma by the sea
Last Line: A rock of time's chiaroscure mists have mossed.
Subject(s): Point Loma, California; Time


POINT LOMA SONNETS: 6. BLUE, by WINIFRED DAVIDSON    Poem Text                    
First Line: Sometimes when afternoon has written peace
Last Line: A pool of lupins bluer than her eyes.
Subject(s): Blue (color); Point Loma, California


POINT LOMA SONNETS: 7. RAIN, by WINIFRED DAVIDSON    Poem Text                    
First Line: It rained tonight and down gray loma's slopes
Last Line: Awakes tonight and sings and lives again.
Subject(s): Point Loma, California; Rain


POINT LOMA SONNETS: 8. ISLE LOMA, by WINIFRED DAVIDSON    Poem Text                    
First Line: Long lay this loma isle; from age to age
Last Line: A lovely thought that time had put aside.
Subject(s): Point Loma, California


POINT LOMA SONNETS: 9. OLD TRAILS, by WINIFRED DAVIDSON    Poem Text                    
First Line: Up from the lonely days that dawned remote
Last Line: Across to mountain, sea, sky, city . . . Leap.
Subject(s): Point Loma, California; Time


POSTMASTER-GENERAL WILL HAYS ENTERS INTO HOLLYWOOD, by STODDARD KING    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Hays came first, with a guard of marines
Last Line: "we are saved, will hays, we are saved!"
Subject(s): Hollywood, California; Parades


PRAYER, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Oh, though I
Last Line: The moon %identity
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


PURCHASE, by CLARENCE MAJOR    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Once you've bought into the suspension of disbelief
Last Line: To buy a thing you don't want
Subject(s): California; Pacific Ocean; Poetry And Poets; Tourists; Travel


PURPLE CALIFORNIA MOUNTAINS, by CLARENCE MAJOR    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Late afternoon; see what I can see
Last Line: These boundaries were always
Subject(s): California; Mountains; Nature; Tourists; Travel


QUICK POEM, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: My daughter is alive
Last Line: In the same time
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


RAISIN FACTORY, by GARY SOTO    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The sound of nightfall was the chain
Last Line: Lucky little bastards going somewhere sweet
Subject(s): San Joaquin Valley, California


RECOLLECTIONS OF MARE ISLAND, CALIFORNIA, by ARTHUR PETERSON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Fair lady, no one have I ever known
Last Line: Of the north-east trades, we near the line.
Subject(s): California


REPORT FROM CALIFORNIA, by LOIS MOYLES    Poem Source                    
First Line: In california, %ankle-high animals occupy the tablelands
Last Line: To what shall we apply them? To nothing for long, %for truly they are soothed with drifting
Subject(s): California


ROCK SONG, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Leon russell's got a lot of muscle
Last Line: In a whole new land
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


RUMPELSTILTSKIN, by DENNIS SCHMITZ    Poem Source                    
First Line: Straw into gold - what's technology's
Last Line: Whose riddle, whose child, whose gold?
Subject(s): Anthropology; California - Gold Discoveries; Native Americans; Rumpelstiltskin


RUN, by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: I enter again %through this sleeve
Last Line: Here, close to the water's edge
Subject(s): California; Cities


SALTON SEA, by BENJAMIN FRANKLIN FIELD    Poem Text                    
First Line: O glittering, heartless, fearful sea
Last Line: Have forced a gate to paradise.
Alternate Author Name(s): Field, Ben
Subject(s): Lakes; Salton Sea, California; Pools; Ponds


SAN DIEGO, by CINCINNATUS HEINE MILLER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: What shall be said of the sun-born pueblo?
Last Line: The footfalls of nations are heard on her sands.
Alternate Author Name(s): Miller, Joaquin
Subject(s): San Diego, California


SAN DIEGO, by AMELIA WOODWARD TRUESDELL    Poem Text                    
First Line: In the college san fernando, in the state of mejico
Last Line: ^1^ the yucca, or spanish bayonet.
Subject(s): Holidays; Memorial Day; Missions & Missionaries; Sailing & Sailors; San Diego, California; Soldiers; Declaration Day


SAN DIEGO AND MATISSE: 1. INSIDE FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF A TREE, by CLARENCE MAJOR    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Beautiful women in smoky blue culottes
Subject(s): Admiration; Beauty; San Diego, California; Seashore; Tourists; Travel; Women; Beach; Coast; Shore; Journeys; Trips


SAN DIEGO AND MATISSE: 1. INSIDE FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF A TREE, by CLARENCE MAJOR    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Beautiful women in smoky blue culottes
Last Line: Smell of saltwater swimming in the room
Subject(s): Admiration; Beauty; San Diego, California; Seashore; Tourists; Travel; Women


SAN FRANCISCO BAY, by AMELIA WOODWARD TRUESDELL    Poem Text                    
First Line: Grandest bay! Upon whose bosom navies of all the world
Last Line: Blesséd gate, where millions find the golden boon of liberty!
Subject(s): Adventure And Adventurers; San Francisco Bay, California; Travel; Journeys; Trips


SAN GABRIEL, by LYMAN WHITNEY ALLEN    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: San gabriel! / I stand and wonder at thy walls
Last Line: I own thy sweet and mystic spell.
Subject(s): California; San Gabriel Mission


SAN JOAQUIN, by WILLIAM EVERSON            Poet Analysis         Recitation     Poet's Biography
Alternate Author Name(s): Antoninus, Brother
Subject(s): San Joaquin Valley, California


SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, by ALICE CECILIA COOPER    Poem Text                    
First Line: Through broken arches moonbeams softly shine
Last Line: Awake in us dear memories of god's peace.
Subject(s): Catholics; San Juan Capistrano, California; Roman Catholics; Catholicism


SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, by AMELIA WOODWARD TRUESDELL    Poem Text                    
First Line: Onward from 'las flores' rancho, following the shore- / line steeps
Last Line: Flash the ruins as old faces gleam with thoughts of long ago.
Subject(s): Missions & Missionaries; San Juan Capistrano, California


SANTA BARBARA, by FRANCIS FISHER BROWNE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Between the mountains and the sea
Last Line: And summer rules the radiant year.
Subject(s): Santa Barbara, California


SANTA BARBARA, by AMELIA WOODWARD TRUESDELL    Poem Text                    
First Line: Here the soft sweet airs distilling seem a necromancer's / balm
Last Line: As our spirits blindly stumble through earth's doubts toward heavenly ray.
Subject(s): Missions & Missionaries; Santa Barbara, California


SANTA BARBARA BEACH, by FREDERICK RIDGELY TORRENCE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Now while the sunset offers
Last Line: "shall feed my wells with tears."
Subject(s): Santa Barbara, California; Seashore; Beach; Coast; Shore


SAUSALITO TRASH PRAYER, by LEW WELCH    Poem Source                    
First Line: Sausalito, %little willow
Last Line: And curse the men who have misued you
Subject(s): Sausalito, California


SAWING THE WOOD, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
Last Line: Is inside sewing
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


SEPARATION, by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: Tonight I didn't expect that familiar pain
Last Line: And I know I am part of the betrayal
Subject(s): California; Cities


SHAO'S BOOK, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Shao's book holds the mind
Last Line: Be yourself reading him
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


SHAPE OF ONE MAN'S BREATHING: SAXOPHONE MAN, by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: A woman who can't stop
Last Line: As we improvise together -- %stretching the riff
Subject(s): California; Cities


SHAPE OF THE STAR, by CHARLES BUKOWSKI    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Well, you know, he started out as a
Last Line: Hollywood %what it %is
Subject(s): Hollywood, California


SHASTA, by WITTER BYNNER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The canyon is deep shade beneath
Last Line: Conceives himself divinity.
Alternate Author Name(s): Morgan, Emanuel
Subject(s): Mount Shasta, California


SIERRAN MEMORIES, by ANNA CATHERINE MARKHAM    Poem Text                    
First Line: Sometimes, o california, far away
Last Line: And toil was romance in that fortunate air.
Subject(s): California; Memory


SKETCH FOR A LAW ENFORCEMENT MINISERIES, by GARY SOTO    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The police found an arm and foot in a zipped-up gym bag
Last Line: Falling and the bodies long gone
Subject(s): San Joaquin Valley, California


SMALL TOWN, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I am a patriot
Last Line: All die, and inhabit %the sun
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


SNOW IN CALIFORNIA, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: My daughter's enterprising little spirit
Last Line: But lingers over, having never before held snow
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


SOMEONE IS TRYING TO WARN YOU, by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: And the whole world is talking about the japanese
Last Line: You still haven't won the war
Subject(s): California; Cities


SOMETHING, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: My father collects rocks
Last Line: He must know something
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


SOMETIMES IT TAKES A LONG TIME TO GET BURIED, by GARY SOTO    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Only an hour ago fog washed over a dusty lincoln
Last Line: As he slumped over from the trembling %of idling bulldozers
Subject(s): San Joaquin Valley, California


SON WITH BLUE SHAVEN HEAD, by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: The woman who stands
Last Line: Never too far from the river
Subject(s): California; Cities


SONG AT THE WINEPRESSES, by KENNETH REXROTH    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: It is the end of the grape
Last Line: The archangel, and tobit %and the faithful dog
Subject(s): Nature; Santa Barbara, California


SONG OF THE REDWOOD-TREE, by WALT WHITMAN    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: A california song
Last Line: To build a grander future.
Subject(s): California; Sequoia Trees; Redwoods


SONG TO CALIFORNIA, by CARL JOHN BOSTELMANN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Hear me! %I have had alkali on my boots
Subject(s): California


SONNET, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I sing the subtle beauty of man
Last Line: And what follows capture with quick and loving glance
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


SONNET, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I remember the evenings I played as a boy
Last Line: Is the empty, almost different world before dark
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


SONNET, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: As I watch my daughters' faces climb through time
Last Line: Of no one at all that makes life great
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


SONNET, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: The unutterable sadness of our lives
Last Line: Which it was in a way -- like today, like tonight
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


SONNET (IN SCORPIO), by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Death makes life divine
Last Line: Eternal death makes life divine
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


SONNET TO CALIFORNIA, by O. E. ENFIELD    Poem Text                    
First Line: Two thousand miles we went, through farming land
Last Line: You're wonderful and gracious as a host.
Subject(s): California


SPRING, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: The beauty of a tree
Last Line: Of its own %delicate fortitude
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


SPRING IN CARMEL, by GEORGE STERLING    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: O'er carmel fields in the springtime the sea-gulls follow the plow
Last Line: And name of her far away.
Subject(s): Carmel, California


SPRING MEAL, by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: I sit at the table
Last Line: To see what the heart remembers
Subject(s): California; Cities


SPRING SONG, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: In spring you get a feeling as if the body is deeply
Last Line: To notice you differently, and love you, you notice, her %father
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


STOCK MARKET, by GARY SOTO    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I bet my wad on rubber bands
Last Line: I was the dying territory a bird's begging eye [or, I was the shiny territory in the eye of a thing
Subject(s): San Joaquin Valley, California


STORM, by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: It's been raining for hours
Last Line: Growing in the dark
Subject(s): California; Cities


STRAY DOG'S LESSON, by GARY SOTO    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The pile of autumn leaves smoked but didn't catch fire
Last Line: Someone flatfooted, someone between earth and sky
Subject(s): San Joaquin Valley, California


STREET SCENE ON THE FULTON MALL, by GARY SOTO    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The cabdriver watched me from across the street
Last Line: Of the american buffalo [or, between buildings, the best years long gone]
Subject(s): San Joaquin Valley, California


STUBBORN THURSDAY, by GARY SOTO    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: While the moon stirred the trees, not a single leaf let go
Last Line: Of years lowering the sacks under our desperate eyes
Subject(s): San Joaquin Valley, California


SUMMER I WAS TEN, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Kay kendall was my mother's best friend
Last Line: That night she had appendicitis
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


SUMMER'S END, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: It was the end of a summer
Last Line: And rubbed his hand on his pants
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


SUMMONS, by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: We say we aren't the believers
Last Line: Right out of our dreams
Subject(s): California; Cities


SUNSET AT CORONADO, by ETHELEAN TYSON GAW    Poem Text                    
First Line: A trireme of el dorado is plunging down the blue
Last Line: The transmuted glory-fires of california gold.
Subject(s): California; Evening; Sunset; Twilight


SUTTER'S FORT, SACRAMENTO, by LUCIUS HARWOOD FOOTE    Poem Text                    
First Line: I stood by the old fort's crumbling wall
Last Line: Dust and ashes and nothing more!
Subject(s): California - Gold Discoveries; Sutter's Fort, California; Gold Rush; Forty-niners


TAMALPAIS, SELECTION, by CHARLES WARREN STODDARD    Poem Text                    
First Line: The hollow moon, and up between
Last Line: With dusty purple of the grape.
Subject(s): Tamalpais, Mount (california)


TEN MILLION FLAMES OF LOS ANGELES, by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: I've always been afraid of death by fire
Last Line: Angelita, do not run from the flame.'
Subject(s): California; Cities


THE BELLS OF SAN GABRIEL, by CHARLES WARREN STODDARD    Poem Text                    
First Line: Thine was the corn and the wine
Last Line: Of gabriel, the archangel.
Subject(s): Bells; California; Missions & Missionaries


THE BELLS OF SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, by CHARLES AUGUSTUS KEELER    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Ave maria purissima! Hear!
Last Line: Our throats are cracked and they seldom sing.
Subject(s): Bells; San Juan Capistrano, California


THE CALIFORNIA ESCHSCHOLTZIA, by AMELIA WOODWARD TRUESDELL    Poem Text                    
First Line: The orange hue of the rainbow
Last Line: In a tent of the cloth of gold.
Subject(s): California; Courts & Courtiers; Gold


THE DAYS OF '49, by CHARLEY RHODES    Poem Text                    
First Line: Here you see old tom moore
Last Line: In the days of '49.
Subject(s): California - Gold Discoveries; Gold Rush; Forty-niners


THE DAYS OF FORTY-NINE, by ANONYMOUS    Poem Text                    
First Line: "you are looking [or, we are gazing] on old tom moore"
Last Line: "refrain -- but my heart is filled, etc"
Subject(s): California - Gold Discoveries; Gold Rush;forty-niners


THE DEPARTURE OF THE PILOT (DANIEL C. GILMAN), by EDWARD ROWLAND SILL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Slender spars and snowy wings
Last Line: "comrades on the glorious sea."
Alternate Author Name(s): Hedbrooke, Andrew
Subject(s): California, University Of; Gilman, Daniel Coit (1831-1908)


THE ELEMENTS OF SAN JOAQUIN: FIELD, by GARY SOTO    Poem Text     Poem Explanation                 Poet's Biography
First Line: The wind sprays pale dirt into my mouth
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Farm Life; Minorities - United States; San Joaquin Valley, California; United States - Race Relations; Agriculture; Farmers


THE ELEMENTS OF SAN JOAQUIN: SUN, by GARY SOTO    Poem Text     Poem Explanation                 Poet's Biography
First Line: In june the sun is a bonnet of light
Subject(s): Farm Life; San Joaquin Valley, California; Sun; Agriculture; Farmers


THE ELEMENTS OF SAN JOAQUIN: WIND, by GARY SOTO    Poem Text     Poem Explanation                 Poet's Biography
First Line: A dry wind over the valley
Subject(s): Farm Life; San Joaquin Valley, California; Wind; Agriculture; Farmers


THE ELEMENTS OF SAN JOAQUIN: WIND (2), by GARY SOTO    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: When you got up this morning the sun
Subject(s): San Joaquin Valley, California; Wind


THE FIGHT OF PASO DEL MAR, by BAYARD TAYLOR    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Gusty and raw was the morning, a fog hung over the seas
Last Line: From the fight of the paso del mar.
Alternate Author Name(s): Taylor, James Bayard
Subject(s): California


THE GOLD THAT GREW BY SHASTA TOWN, by CINCINNATUS HEINE MILLER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: From shasta town to redding town
Last Line: By pleasant, sunlit shasta town.
Alternate Author Name(s): Miller, Joaquin
Subject(s): California - Gold Discoveries; Gold Rush; Forty-niners


THE GOLD-SEEKERS, by HAMLIN GARLAND    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I saw these dreamers of dreams go by
Last Line: Though the gold of the dice has been lost.
Subject(s): California - Gold Discoveries; Gold Rush; Forty-niners


THE KING'S HIGHWAY; EL CAMINO REAL, by JOHN STEVEN MCGROARTY    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: All in the golden weather, forth let us ride today
Last Line: With the breath of god about us on the king's highway.
Subject(s): California; Nature; Roads; Paths; Trails


THE LAST MERMOTHER, by ANNIE FINCH            Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I used to fish in san francisco bay
Subject(s): Mothers; San Francisco Bay, California


THE LAST RODEO, by LILLIAN CAROLINE CANFIELD    Poem Text                    
First Line: Fools! I have heard the beat of the last rodeo
Last Line: On the white dust roads that writhe in the sacramento.
Subject(s): California; Rodeos


THE LOVING SHEPHERDESS, by ROBINSON JEFFERS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The little one-room schoolhousc among the redwoods
Last Line: Of the solemn
Subject(s): Pregnancy; Shepherds & Shepherdesses; California; Death; Dead, The


THE MEN OF FORTY-NINE, by CINCINNATUS HEINE MILLER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Those brave old bricks of forty-nine!
Last Line: Who made a pathway with their dust.
Alternate Author Name(s): Miller, Joaquin
Subject(s): California - Gold Discoveries; Gold Rush; Forty-niners


THE OJAI VALLEY, by VINE MCCASLAND    Poem Text                    
First Line: Here massive, roofless mountains brood in peace
Last Line: For this one hour we have spent in heaven.
Subject(s): Ojai Valley, California


THE ONSET; A CALIFORNIA BEACH, by JESSIE BELL RITTENHOUSE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The wet sands were grey-blue that afternoon
Last Line: Love can defy.
Alternate Author Name(s): Scollard, Clinton, Mrs.
Subject(s): Birds; California; Seashore; Beach; Coast; Shore


THE PINE FOREST OF MONTEREY, by BAYARD TAYLOR    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: What point of time, unchronicled, and dim
Last Line: Will make sad answer to the listening sea.
Alternate Author Name(s): Taylor, James Bayard
Subject(s): Monterey, California; Pine Trees; Trees


THE PIONEER, by HENRY MEADE BLAND    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: With a sigh for the unknown land fevering his
Last Line: To build the state and lift the law for light.
Subject(s): California; Pioneers


THE PURCHASE, by CLARENCE MAJOR    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Once you've bought into the suspension of disbelief
Last Line: To buy a thing you don't want
Subject(s): California; Pacific Ocean; Poetry & Poets; Tourists; Travel; Journeys; Trips


THE RAINY SEASON IN CALIFORNIA, by JOHN ROLLIN RIDGE    Poem Text                    
First Line: The rains have come, the winds are shrill
Last Line: My soul enchanted soareth free.
Alternate Author Name(s): Yellow Bird
Subject(s): California; Rain


THE REALMS OF GOLD, by ALFRED NOYES    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Under the palms of san diego
Last Line: A song that had out-soared death.
Subject(s): Death; Dreams; Gold; Poetry & Poets; San Diego, California; Dead, The; Nightmares


THE SHAPE OF THE STAR, by CHARLES BUKOWSKI    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Well, you know, he started out as a
Last Line: What it / is
Subject(s): Hollywood, California


THE WAITING NOTE; DEDICATED TO PRESIDENT SUSAN MILLS OF MILLS COLLEGE, by AMELIA WOODWARD TRUESDELL    Poem Text                    
First Line: In the full celestial chorus
Last Line: Lay their worship at his feet.
Subject(s): God; Mills College, California; Religion; Worship; Theology


THE YUKON'S SONG OF THE GOLD, by AMELIA WOODWARD TRUESDELL    Poem Text                    
First Line: Lo! We are the waters that come from afar
Last Line: The cañons of unsought gold.
Subject(s): California - Gold Discoveries; Gold; Hunting; Treasures; Yukon Territory; Gold Rush; Forty-niners; Hunters


THERE ARE ANIMALS IN THIS AREA, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
Last Line: Right outside our door
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


THESE ARE THE DAYS, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
Last Line: Just enough to see it coming
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


THINKING OF THE LOST WORLD, by RANDALL JARRELL    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: This spoonful of chocolate tapioca
Last Line: Nothing: nothing for which there's no reward
Subject(s): Childhood Memories; Los Angeles, California


THIRTEEN, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I was thirteen, filled with an impossible will
Last Line: I shot two rolls, slowly. And I went to school
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


THIS SHAME CALLED JOY, by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: Hand squeezed, %thick with a pulp which clings
Last Line: The tenacity of my desire
Subject(s): California; Cities


THREE PERSPECTIVES OF SAN FRANCISCO: FROM SAUSALITO, by WILLIAM WITHERUP    Poem Source                    
First Line: Is san francisco at noon
Last Line: Of a sprawling, white hospital
Subject(s): Sausalito, California; Tourists; Travel


THREE PSYCHIATRISTS, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I went to three psychiatrists
Last Line: So he remained relatively quiet all that time, waiting
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


TO GET TO FRESNO, by LAWSON FUSAO INADA    Poem Source                    
First Line: To get to fresno, %you need to turn left
Last Line: Welcome back, fresno. %welcome back home.'
Subject(s): California; Geography; Maps; Travel; West (u.s.) - Exploration


TO GET TO THE CHILD, by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: I have to set just one free man
Last Line: I inflict now, all by myself
Subject(s): California; Cities


TO MOUNT SHASTA, by JOHN MARTIN DEAN    Poem Text                    
First Line: We trailed the sacramento toward the north
Last Line: For me, I've seen you in the moonlight white!
Subject(s): Mount Shasta, California


TO TALK ABOUT A RIVER, by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: I remember a time before speaking
Last Line: A river that never knew we left it
Subject(s): California; Cities


TO THE PIONEERS, by CINCINNATUS HEINE MILLER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: How swift this sand, gold-laden, runs!
Last Line: Sierra's snow-topt battle tents.
Alternate Author Name(s): Miller, Joaquin
Subject(s): California - Gold Discoveries; Pioneers; Gold Rush; Forty-niners


TO WOMEN WHO SLEEP ALONE, by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: My mother doesn't understand a world with no man in it
Last Line: A woman opening to the sound of rain
Subject(s): California; Cities


TONIGHT, WALT WHITMAN, THE PACIFIC, by GAIL WRONSKY    Poem Source                    
First Line: Tonight, soul mate, I summon you out of the pacific
Last Line: Singing your angelic song
Subject(s): Anniversaries; California; Pacific Ocean; Seashore; Singing And Singers; Travel


TOR HOUSE, by ROBINSON JEFFERS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: If you should look for this place after a handful
Last Line: With the mad wings and the day moon
Subject(s): Carmel, California


TOWN NEEDS A MAGAZINE, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
Last Line: And in a week we bring out a proud beauty
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


TOYONS IN A BERKELEY GARDEN, by MAME NESBIT HAYNES    Poem Text                    
First Line: O toyons, growing by the garden wall
Last Line: Of a friend, I greet you!
Subject(s): Berkeley, California; Gardens & Gardening; Holly


TRANSPARENT MAN, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: You were transparent
Last Line: And so you shot clear of your career %transparent
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


TRANSUBSTANTIATION, by JAN LEE ANDE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Across santa barbara harbor, masts lean like white
Last Line: Shaft of straggly feathers, here and there, shed
Subject(s): Fishing And Fishermen; Harbors; Santa Barbara, California; Travel


TROUBADOUR, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I sing my song solidly in time
Last Line: The birds are a'twitter every single day
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


TWO FROM THE MONTEREY HOTEL: 1. LET'S RAISE A GLASS OF PORT TO THE OLD, by WILLIAM WITHERUP    Poem Source                    
First Line: Didn't know much about the old guy
Last Line: Weighing as much as two full golf bags
Subject(s): Hotels; Monterey, California; Old Age; Rooms


TWO FROM THE MONTEREY HOTEL: 2. PORTRAIT OF A DESK CLERK, by WILLIAM WITHERUP    Poem Source                    
First Line: She takes as long as a kabuki actor making up
Last Line: And descends to her estate
Subject(s): Monterey, California; Paintings And Painters; Portraits


UP IN THE LOFT, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Sitting in the sleeping loft
Last Line: While the eucalyptus trees wave across the meadow
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


VALE, by MARGUERITE WILKINSON    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Her gaunt sierras edged with fire or snow
Last Line: Of waves upon her coast.
Subject(s): California


VALLEY OF SAN GABRIEL, by ANNE ZUKER    Poem Text                    
First Line: Full tide of summer, through the waxing year
Last Line: Into mutation on the knees of death?
Subject(s): San Gabriel Valley, California


VIZCAINO, by CLARENCE MAJOR    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Here at cape vizcaino in mendocino
Last Line: Take care. See you soon
Subject(s): Mendocino, California; Tourists; Travel; Vizcaino, Sebastian (1550-1616)


WALKING DOWN MARKET STREET, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: You see
Last Line: Down the street
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


WALKING DOWN THE ROAD, by ADRIENNE CECILE RICH    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: On a clear night in live oak you can see
Last Line: Flashing their angry tears, here in live oak
Subject(s): California; Mexico


WANTING TO GO BACK HOME, by GARY SOTO    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The parakeet meets me at the back door
Last Line: Wet from years of rain
Subject(s): San Joaquin Valley, California


WE ARE HUNGRY, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: We are hungry for shakespeare
Last Line: We are hungry for everything
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


WELL: IMAGINE A MOUNTAIN WHOSE NAME IS HEART, by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: At the throat of the mountain
Last Line: Interned at heart mountain, wyoming
Subject(s): California; Cities


WEST COAST SOUNDS ?اض 1956, by BOB KAUFMAN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: San fran, hipster land
Last Line: For mexico. / me too
Subject(s): Jazz; Poetry And Poetry; California


WHAT A SWEET THING, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: What a sweet thing a child is
Last Line: As sweet as new-mown grass
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


WHAT MORE, by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: First we allow %the taking of children
Last Line: What more can be taken
Subject(s): California; Cities


WHEN I WAS EIGHT IN BEVERLY HILLS, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: I stole a machine gun water-pistol out of the drugstore
Last Line: Buried it, quickly
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


WHEN I WAS NINE, by GARY SOTO    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: No river flowed through the city. Our school was scarred
Last Line: Where no river flowed from there to the sky
Subject(s): San Joaquin Valley, California


WHEN THE HEART MELTS, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
Last Line: Through the body
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


WHERE THE SKY AND GROUND ARE WHITE, by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: I press my lips together slightly
Last Line: Too furious to ignore
Subject(s): California; Cities


WHO HAVE BEEN SAD EVEN BEFORE THEY COULD LEARN, by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: Where do they come from
Last Line: Can last a girl her entire life
Subject(s): California; Cities


WIND RIVER, by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: It is just a matter of relocation
Last Line: Of 1985, near the wind river reservation, wyoming
Subject(s): California; Cities


WINDY MORNING (CATALINE ISLAND, 1913), by ODELL SHEPARD    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Dawn with a jubilant shout
Last Line: High up against the sun.
Subject(s): Catalina Island, California; Wind


WINTER MIDNIGHT, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Can I let the winter go without a poem
Last Line: Like snow falling, like snow falling, like snow falling
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


WITH A CALLIGRAPHER, by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: He writes every morning with a fat ink brush. His fingers slicing
Last Line: All the power in his hands, which he holds onto with his life
Subject(s): California; Cities


WITH NATURE, by GARY SOTO    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The goats chewed in sunlight
Last Line: And its juices long gone
Subject(s): San Joaquin Valley, California


WITNESS, by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: The first time I looked up
Last Line: Know how much I was loved
Subject(s): California; Cities


WOMAN NAMED MATSU/PINE, by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: I wait here before our children
Last Line: Fire in the dawn's %stillest hour
Subject(s): California; Cities


WOMAN WHO FORGOT, by AMY UYEMATSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: Sometimes a woman must go
Last Line: She had never left it behind
Subject(s): California; Cities


YESTERDAY, by ARAM SAROYAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Yesterday we went into sausalito to have lunch with
Last Line: Of the matter, since that's what comes through to me
Subject(s): Bolinas, California


YOU, by CLAIRE STUDER-GOLL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: You have the mane
Last Line: Across the worlds.
Alternate Author Name(s): Goll, Claire
Subject(s): California; Colorado (state); Earth; Nature; Travel; World; Journeys; Trips


YOUR BIRTHDAY IN THE CALIFORNIA MOUNTAINS, by KENNETH REXROTH    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: A broken moon on the cold water
Subject(s): Birthdays; California; Death; Memory; Mountains; Past; Dead, The; Hills; Downs (great Britain)


YOUR BIRTHDAY IN THE CALIFORNIA MOUNTAINS, by KENNETH REXROTH    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: A broken moon on the cold water
Last Line: But you have been dead for thirty years
Subject(s): Birthdays; California; Death; Memory; Mountains; Past