California

This lyrical volume presents California not simply as a place, but as a living poem—vast, beautiful, mysterious, and filled with music. Its opening meditation moves from snow-crested mountains and towering forests to flowered valleys, desert blooms, waterfalls, and the Pacific, recalling a lifelong enchantment with the state’s varied landscapes.

The central poem gives California a powerful, mythic voice. Through images of sunset-lit seas, Tamalpais, Yosemite, orchards, and fragrant hills, she speaks as a serene and generous queen, comparing her beauty with the legendary lands and goddesses of the ancient world. Where older realms are associated with conquest, tragedy, and ruin, this young western land is clothed in olive leaves and carries a dove. Rich in natural imagery, classical echoes, and musical language, the work is an affectionate celebration of place—and a hopeful vision of the greatness, peace, and poetry that California may inspire.