In California

Chemicals ripen the citrus; There are rattlesnakes in the mountains, And on the shoreline Hygiene, inhuman caution. Beef in cellophane Tall as giraffes, The orange-rancher’s daughters Crop their own groves, mistrustful. Perpetual summer seems Precarious on the littoral. We drive Inland to prove The risk we sense. At once Winter claps-to like a shutter High over the Ojai valley, and discloses A double crisis, Winter and Drought. Ranges on mountain-ranges, Empty, unwatered, crumbling, Hot colours come at the eye. It is too cold For picnics at the trestle-tables. Claypit Yellow burns on the distance. The phantom walks Everywhere, of intolerable heat. At Ventucopa, elevation Two-eight-nine-six, the water hydrant frozen, Deserted or broken settlements, Gasoline stations closed and boarded. By nightfall, to the snows; And over the mile on tilted Mile of the mountain park The bright cars hazarded.