NATE VISE’S FORT

(c) Tulare County Library

Kentucky native Nathaniel Vise was born in 1810.  He voted in the election to form Tulare County 1852 and led the competition between Woodsville and Visalia (named after him) for the new County seat.  In that same election, my mother’s great-grandfather, John Cutler, leading the contingent for Woodsville, became the County’s first elected judge.

An outsider, I imagine timbers

between me and town—

now an amoebic city flooding

its values onto orchard ground:

big box stores, stucco cathedrals,

and condos stacked like cordwood.

Ramparts only in my mind

to keep the natives safe

from the shiniest attractions

as sleepy-headed commuters

race 198 to stew in tail light gridlock—

impatience rising with their exhaust.