HIGHWAY 99
A Literary Journey
through California's
Great Central Valley
Edited by Stan Yogi, Gayle Mak,
and Patricia Wakida
GREAT VALLEY BOOKS
HEYDAY BOOKS, BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
xv
Editors' Preface
xvii
Foreword
xxi
Introduction
xxix
YOKUTS TALE
The Man and the Owls
1
PEDRO FAGES
In the South San Joaquin
2
ANDREW FREEMAN
The Arrival of Whites
4
JEDEDIAH S. SMITH
from The Southwest Expedition of Jedediah S. Smith, 1826-1827
7
GEORGE H. DERBY
from Report of the Tulare Valley
10
THOMAS JEFFERSON MAYFIELD
from Tailholt Tales
13
WILLIAM HENRY BREWER
from Up and Down California, 1860-1864
18
GARY THOMPSON
Old Cohasset Road
24
JOHN MUIR
from The Bee-Pastures
25
GARY SNYDER
Covers the Ground
.-:
29
FRANK NORRIS
from The Octopus
31
MARY AUSTIN
The Walking Woman
36
ERNESTO GALARZA
from Barrio Boy
43
WILLIAM SAROYAN
The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse
51
YOIMUT
I Am the Last
57
JOHN STEINBECK
from The Harvest Gypsies
58
WILMA ELIZABETH MCDANIEL
Picking Grapes 1937
62
GERALD HASLAM
The Doll
63
WILLIAM SAROYAN
Fresno
72
MARK ARAX
from In My Father's Name
78
DAVID MAS MASUMOTO
Firedance
82
WILLIAM EVERSON
San Joaquin
The Rain on That Morning
The Ruin..
Fog
91
91
92
93
FRANZ WEINSCHENK
Madera
94
ARIS JANIGIAN
from Bloodvine
102
ART COELHO
Papa's Naturalization
108
LEE NICHOLSON
A New Sonnet from the Portuguese: A Festa do Espirito
Santo—Coronation Day
113
AMADO MURO
Something About Fieldhands
114
CHITRA BANERJEE DIVAKARUNI
The Brides Come to Yuba City
Yuba City School
118
120
CARLOS BULOSAN
from America Is in the Heart
ALAN CHONG LAU
"SUN YAT SEN COMES TO LODI"
122
128
MAXINE HONG KINGSTON
from The American Father
130
WILMA ELIZABETH MCDANIEL
Them Chinamen Has Got a Lottery
137
LAWSON FUSAO INADA
Trombpoem
Elementary Spanish
138
140
SHERLEY ANNE WILLIAMS
The Iconography of Childhood
the wishon line
The Green-Eyed Monsters of the Valley Dusk
142
148
149
ERNEST J. FINNEY
Peacocks
150
DON THOMPSON
PosoFlat
176
LARRY LEVIS
Picking Grapes in an Abandoned Vineyard
The Poet at Seventeen
179
181
ROBERTA SPEAR
Armona
183
MINH Due NGUYEN
from Tale of Apricot
186
MIKE COLE
English 9
192
GREGORY RAMIREZ
Chorizo
194
DEWAYNE RAIL
Going Home Again/Poem for My Father
196
VUONG Vu
My First Month in Fresno
197
ARTHUR SMITH
Elegy on Independence Day
198
DAVID KHERDIAN
The Walnut Tree Trunk Clothed in the Green Leaves
of an Embracing Vine
It Becomes This for Me
199
200
ROBERT MEZEY
The Underground Gardens
White Blossoms
201
202
DENNIS SCHMITZ
The California Phrasebook
203
JOAN DIDION
Notes from a Native Daughter
206
RICHARD RODRIGUEZ
from Nothing Lasts a Hundred Years
216
JOSE MONTOYA
Resonant Valley
Gabby Took the 99
229
232
PHILIP LEVEME
Ricky
Ashes
Luis VALDEZ
Quinta Temporada
234
237
239
GREG PAPE
;Viva la Huelga!
248
DAVID DOMINGUEZ
Galdini Sausage
The Strike
250
251
GEORGE KEITHLEY
"Time Accomplishes for the Poor What Money
Does for the Rich"
The Red Bluff Rodeo
253
254
LEONARD GARDNER
from Fat City
257
SUSAN KELLY-DEWITT
Yuba City Orchards, 1961
February Heat
264
265
DON THOMPSON
Medusa
266
JEAN JANZEN
Sometimes
Toward the End of the Century
267
268
PETER EVERWINE
Back from the Fields
The Hatch
'.
269
270
ARCHIE MINASIAN
Early Summer Through Los Banos
How Foolish the Sweating Men
271
272
DEWAYNE RAIL
Pickers
The Field
273
274
JOYCE CAROL THOMAS
Tracy Poem
275
OCEAN JONES
Tracy Tomatoes in August
277
GARY SOTO
Hoeing
Harvest
279
279
ART COELHO
Evening Comes Slow to a Fieldhand
280
BLAS MANUEL DE LUNA
Bent to the Earth
Huron
281
282
DAVID ST. JOHN
The Olive Grove....
284
JAMES D. HOUSTON
In Search of Oildorado
286
WILLIAM RINTOUL
The Gangpusher
301
VICTOR DAVIS HANSON
from The Land Was Everything: Letters from
an American Farmer
307
WILMA ELIZABETH MCDANIEL
Return to Tagus Ranch
Viewing Kern County Desolation
310
311
LEE MCCARTHY
Mirror on the Wall
312
JENNIFER MURPHY
Descent
314
GERALD HASLAM
Oildale
316
LAWSON FUSAO INADA
Memory
323
GARY SOTO
History
Like Mexicans
325
327
ROD RICARDO-LIVINGSTONE
Summer Fruits
331
ROBERT VASQUEZ
At the Rainbow
Belief
333
334
ERNESTO TREJO
Autumn's End
335
JEAN JANZEN
White Field
336
ANDRES MONTOYA
The Rains Have Left and Ernesto Is Dead
337
GEORGE KEITHLEY
Autumn
339
CLAUDIA MON PERE
Dirt Cities
341
SUSAN KELLY-DEWITT
Rice Fields at Dusk
351
LILLIAN VALLEE
Hawk at the Delta Mendota Canal
Los Banos Reservoir, New Melons, Etc., Etc
352
353
WENDY ROSE
November: San Joaquin Valley
Thanksgiving on the San Joaquin Daily between Fresno
and Martinez
Coalinga
355
356
357
LEE NICHOLSON
Leaving the Mall
Water, Wealth
359
360
RICHARD DOKEY
Birthright
361
CATHERINE WEBSTER
Child Off Hwy 99
370
JUAN FELIPE HERRERA
99 the Road
'.
373
REBECCA ROTHENBERG
from The Dandelion Murders
375
CHERRfE MORAGA
from Heroes and Saints
382
MIKE MADISON
Two Economies
391
JANET NICHOLS LYNCH
Signs of Change
395
C. W. MOULTON
Atwater: Watching B-52's Coming in to Castle
Visiting Mussel Slough Looking at Stones and Clouds
399
400
ROBERTA SPEAR
Some Voices
402
BILL BARICH
Prison Valley
405
CAROLINE ARAKELIAN
My Son's First Funeral
409
BURLEE VANG
Confessions of a Hmong Thug to His Mother
411
MAYLI VANG
Hmong Women
414
YVETTE CARRILLO
Rebelde
"
415
ANDRES MONTOYA
Fresno Night
416
DANIEL CHAC6N
from Expression of Our People
418
JON VEINBERG
Motel Drive
Hardpan
Terra Bella
424
426
...427
DIXIE SALAZAR
Thrifter's Paradise
Hotel Fresno
Reincarnation of the Commonplace
Fresno Pet Cemetery
429
431
433
435
LEE HERRICK
In the Tower District...
437
TIM Z. HERNANDEZ
How to.Catch a Train
438
C. G. HANZLICEK
Adrenalin
Under Stars
442
443
PHILIP KAN GOTANDA
iromFish Head Soup
444
DAVID BOROFKA
My Life as a Mystic
453
CLARK BROWN
Cezanne's Fingers
463
GARY THOMPSON
Hard Pan
In the Wild Rice
Chinese Walls
470
471
472
ALAN CHONG LAU
2 stops on the way home
478
GREG PAPE
On Our Way
480
PURVA BROWN
from The Ghosts Along Ninety-nine
482
KAREN JOY FOWLER
from The Jane Austen Book Club
487
THIPHAVANH LOUANGRATH
Old Maid
491
MEE HER
Bowling to Find a Lost Father
Luis OMAR SALINAS
My Fifty-Plus Years Celebrate Spring
495
497
PHILIP LEVINE
Snails
Magpiety
499
500
WILMA ELIZABETH MCDANIEL
Self-Knowledge
505
Biographical Information
507
Bibliography
527
Author Index
543
About the Editors
545