Post - URBAN WILDLAND

In California
Zip Codified as
Nine two eleven eight
‘The Crown City’…

Is an uncomfortable mix
Of a U.S. Naval base
A Disneyfied grand old hotel
And an up-scale Marina

Bordered by palm trees
Crisp white mid-rise condos
And a broad crescent beach
Polluted with Tijuana’s sewage.

At one end of the crescent
In the corner of a Navy
Compound a seaman idly
Fingers his automatic weapon.

At the other, an airfield
Sequesters a Helicopter
Fleet that surveils
The border marshlands*.

A banner celebrates the
Marines’ semiquincentennial
And bunting presages July 4
In this still patriotic outpost…

Mexican islands loom just
Beyond the surf-soaked beaches
In a curious affront to their
Sovereignty, more evidence that

In this south west corner
Of the dream that was America
Uneasy lies the town
That wears a crown.

*More about these in ‘Tidings’ 06-23-2025