So dearly these people they loved their sun,

Their eternal youth and happy ends, their cowboy guns,

And on real-estate developing fast making mon-

Aiyee!

 

But of water they had none,

And even others’ was bound to run

Out one day when they; not glum!

And not ever moving, not a one!

 

On this or that freeway

Ever-widening in the sun

They

Succumbed.

 

Text and watercolor by William Eaton

Aficionados might also be interested in satires such as The American Flag is at Half-Mast Today; Carol, Rooney! Smoking? Gun; and La colère, c’est démodé, tu ne trouves pas ? (a.k.a. Anger is archaic, don’t you think?).

As regards California, one might also see the gentler limerick #142 in The Limericks, Part IV.

From the Presidio the Pacific . . .

While from Ocean Beach, San Diego, . . .

 
Click for pdf

Ode to Southern Californians