June 16, 2025
Thinking about immigrants in the United States brought me back to my family’s first years in this country, beginning 1956, and the sequence of poems about bright promises in California that make up a book titled Make Magic GO! .
‘Gateway’ with ALEX and HAMID is the first of four that I’ll send out today and tomorrow.
Gateway Capital letters’ tall silver R E N O Stood straight as an Airport’s herald Above smaller caps. of yellow THE BIGGEST LITTLE CITY IN THE WORLD Over Virginia Street downtown, late Summer moon on Nevada’s High Plateau. Lights! Lights! Lights a-sparkle and a-glow-- Crowds on the sidewalks and carpets Beneath marquees-- Striped, flounced, cowboy-hatted, Out for good times-- Smiling like bandanas, Wobbling in high heels, Peering like desperate hunters— A-mer-ica, A-mer-ica— Infinitudes Bigger, brighter Than my mother’s and my Manitoba— The real Magic Kingdom, Tinkerbelle anointing neon, Davy Crockett is hungover— Here, now, To my six-year-old’s eyes Agape after our days of drive In the licorice pink-and-black Pontiac. Another universe! TV color and in your face!
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