An Ode to Silicon Valley

From "plump, purple plums to shiny silver apples" and "fading start-up t-shirts filling Gold's gym" to traffic on 101, 280, and 85, and don't forget the food from pho to falafel... it's the Silicon Valley, for better or worse, exposed bare, dark underside, shiny future, the entrepreneurs and the laid off (and sometimes both), coming together in Santa Clara County's first official poem, "A Family Album, Santa Clara County, 2009."

County poet laureate, Nils Peterson, (does your county have an official poet?) assembled the poem from lines submitted by 500 county residents, ages 11 to 80. About 100 of the submitted lines, each with nine to 13 syllables, made the final cut.

"This poem captures the heights and the depths of life in Silicon Valley," said Peterson, professor emeritus at San Jose State University, who was moved to tears as he recited "A Family Album, Santa Clara County, 2009" at a press conference at the county government center. "We are reflecting the family of Santa Clara County, that's our extended family, and we are lucky to have each other."

Listen to Poet Laureate Nils Peterson reading the first official Santa Clara County poem: