California Prodigal
California Prodigal - meaning Summary
Reclaiming California's Luminous Past
The poem observes a Californian landscape where relics of imported, old-world culture—adobe bricks and portraits frozen in paint—linger amid vigorous natural renewal. The speaker watches vines, jasmine, lupins and poppies reclaim ghosted land while sunlight and everyday activity defy the austere ancestral images that glare from cottage walls. The contrast between static cultural legacy and present vitality suggests a reversal or reconciliation: California’s living exuberance displaces inherited disdain and decay, asserting a renewed identity rooted in movement, color, and generosity.
Read Complete AnalysesThe eye follows, the land Slips upward, creases down, forms The gentle buttocks of a young Giant. In the nestle, Old adobe bricks, washed of Whiteness, paled to umber, Await another century. Star Jasmine and old vines Lay claim upon the ghosted land, Then quiet pools whisper Private childhood secrets. Flush on inner cottage walls Antiquitous faces, Used to the gelid breath Of old manors, glare disdainfully Over breached time. Around and through these Cold phantasmatalities, He walks, insisting To the languid air, Activity, music, A generosity of graces. His lupin fields spurn old Deceit and agile poppies dance In golden riot. Each day is Fulminant, exploding brightly Under the gaze of his exquisite Sires, frozen in the famed paint Of dead masters. Audacious Sunlight casts defiance At their feet.
Feel free to be first to leave comment.