The California Poem

In contrast to the many "excremental" nauseating (poemetics) poems -"Howl" etc - of the past 50+ years, the sensitive and inspired verses of Eleni Sikelianos (great-grand-daughter of the outstanding lyrical poet of Modern Greece), this incremental collection helps us understand the causes - poetiology - of modern "di-versification". It is a mental and occasionally sentimental path (Spanish sendero)towards a California-oriented uni-versality.

Sikelianos has a Walt Whitman style to her work, if not in language or theme, then at least in scope of project and breadth of the writing. This poem is as much a praise poem to California as "Song of Myself" is a praise poem to Whitman's self. The California Poem is also a language poem on several levels. So much of this book is about the sounds of the words as much as it is about the landscape of California. Sonically, the book is bubbly at times, almost approaching a rolling boil but never quite slipping over the edge into one. "in California, fire hydrant is a way to say freeway, which in turn turns to freely allies All ye / in come free into dusk motes / at Lake of our Lady" (p 14) Emerging in this initial poem/piece are children playing hide and seek or kick the can or some other game and at the same time Our Lady of the Lake appears, that water spirit of Arthurian legend as well as a Catholic reference to Lake Arrowhead. So often these little inversions of words and phrases appear, which seem so "Californian", referencing something identifiably as part of California's landscape and identity. The entire book feels rich because of this kind of attention to detail. She included so many elements of California native flora and fauna - she has either done her research or is intimately familiar with the wildlife she mentions so frequently, or both. The place names and their identities are so clearly evoked throughout. This initial poem (pp 12-17) sets the tone for the whole book and verifies Sikelianos' authority to present her impressions of the landscape of California. This piece is more of a prologue than the one actually titled "Prologue", since this piece mixes California history, personal history, and an intimate relationship with the landscape. "with / the grace of an / orange, one can / run / over water / without ever sinking" from the poem on pp 122-124 becomes an ode to the orange history of California, the "orange" being the most immediate thing tying these smaller pieces together. This poem has so much history embedded in it, that I imagine if I were to research the orange growing industry of California, I'd be simultaneously peeling away layers of this poem, revealing as many varieties of orange. Here's one of my favorite passages: "the low humming bird of trains in the night like a lion with a harmonium / in its throat / running / in its soft clickety-clack socked tracks / along the sea" Look at those lines! She's definitely proving what can be done with a broken or fragmented syntax and layering of sounds. Her images are turbulent throughout. She truly understands the syntax of the English language to be able to drop out pieces of sentences and still maintain coherent thoughts, ideas and images. Another piece (pp 175-182) feels like the ocean, like the waves in motion, like a whole cornucopia of life teeming in systemic cohesion, interacting in a symbiotic relationship that doesn't need to be described because it is fel

The California Poem is a book-length epic poem, sparsely illustrated with black-and-white photographs of the California landscape, that spans the time, science, history, and scenery of the Golden State. The sweeping lyrics, evocative of the resilience and beauty of nature, distinguish this breathtaking celebration of California in free verse. "My goal is to relate the descriptions to living animals / Who is truly flea-bitten here? on hills hanging over beaches thatched / with reticent brush, the yellow intensities shining on cliffs, and below, it's / riffled with blue. Which animal?"