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Thursday 4 June 2009

Lines Composed at Hope Ranch




File:Hope ranch east entrance.jpg




“Twist away the gates of steel” -- Devo


O wide blossom-splashed private drives
Along which sullen mouthed little guys
In motorized surreys
Ride shotgun over spectacular philodendra!
O paradise of zombies!
O terminal antipathy to twist
And shout!
O hotel sized garages
Inside which smoothly tooled imported motors
Purr like big pussies under long polished hoods!
O fair haven of killjoys
United to keep surfers off
One of the great beach breaks
Of the West Coast!
O floral porticos, flowers
Of de Kooning, de Chirico
Chateaux! Estates where jokes
Aren’t funny! What secret meaning awaits
Behind your stone and steel gates
Your walls of bougainvillea
Your date palm lined roads
Your quiet oak shaded lake
Like a European protectorate in Tanganyika?
Surely nothing disorderly, nothing disarrayed
Nothing at all except the great Pacific swell
Of money!





Hope Ranch, East Entrance: photo by Antandrus, 2006

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