New Spain, Old California

How many Edens ago
Was California the best new thing?
And how many Edens are left to be had?
I could produce

A script speaking of
Some new paradisial place
To root in & reawaken,
But that isn’t my thing.

California has the same
Red-clay soil as southern Spain—
It would look like home
To the don’s second son

Sent here to be out of the heir’s way.
Uprooted & transplanted
Means using a treasure map
To define the X of one’s measure.









Coco Owen lives in Los Angeles and has published in the Antioch Review, 1913: A Journal of Forms, The Journal, Cirque, Tidal Basin Review, and CutBank, among other venues. She has a mini-chapbook with Binge Press and has been a finalist in contests by Tebot Bach Press, Imaginary Friends Press, and Blast Furnace. Owen is on the board of Les Figues Press and more of her work is online at: www.cocoowenphd.com

See another piece by Coco in Issue 2.3