Waves in California

My California

slips beneath the waves,

full of status mongers

and money grubbers.

Wave after wave

crashes on its

fragile coast,

taking every pebble

from this land once

so full and bright.

The marshes drown

in a concrete and asphalt stew.

Oak trees and redwoods

buried under glass and steel canyons.

The wild side chokes

 in the brown-stained sky of conformity.

Free-thinkers,

spirit lovers,

and innovators,

washed away

while industrialists,

materialists

wash up,

take root

and fester under

the once-golden sun.

This is not California:

not the one I knew.

The golden state has lost its luster

as it sinks into the faded Pacific blue.