poem from brigade member Virginia Barrett

FLORA AND FAUNA 

Occupy California

Virginia Barrett

Point Reyes National Seashore

The field mustard

is occupying the land

of the historic ranch

with a brilliant banner

of yellow—urging an early

American Spring.

Crows, in their black,

Zen monk robes, stand

atop the fence posts

and impart:

            “let flowers grow

            in all our hearts.”

Having survived

an earlier eviction,

the Tule Elk graze

on the hillsides

            of loving undulations

above the rousing surf.

Cows, black and white,

conscientiously chew the cud

of the indigestible news

while in Tomales Bay

the oysters form pearls

to pay for better schools.

Mountain lions organize

in the night, stealing

it back from the monopoly

of electric lights,

           

                        (and the stars are staging a sit-in).

                                    Coyotes circle

                        to devour

            the corporate carnage

in the misty rain

that is washing

this earthly paradise,

                                    this California,

                                                clean.