“…he hereby invites all good and patriotic citizens in California to assist him—to establish and perpetuate a liberal, a just and honorable government…which shall encourage industry, virtue and literature.” — William B. Ide, Sonoma Proclamation, 1846
We come to the courthouse
or we are shown round.
So much more solid,
these three provinces of Alta
California,
more clannish, more true,
than Jefferson’s interior
ideals that now kill,
We hold these truths
to be. That all men are.
Endowed by their.
With certain. Among them
Industry, Virtue and Literature.
But of course they didn’t catch,
lasted three weeks and change
and as the document shows
they were for tongue allegiances,
the truths invaders tell us,
pastoral herald of technical revolutions
We come to the courthouse
or we are shown round,
and flailing in the air above the steps,
the only grizzly left is the one
on the flag. It used to stand, now it walks
like a medieval fresco man
who clutches bread
then breaks it in a fit of renaissance.
The last stanza is particularly striking.