[Erik Olson]

My First Impressions
Of San Joaquin’s sea-level Valley were:
Chemicals ripen fields of super citrus,
No sight of people, passed-by squat towns blur;
Summer's year-round, sun fevered like a virus.
Here groves the orange-rancher’s daughters crop
Repeat. Amid this desert teeming grain,
And sundry fruit fill silos for the shop;
Processing plants stuff beef in cellophane.

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