Middle L.A.

It's as if the weight
Isn't heavy enough to feel
But massive enough to see
Clearly, on a cloudy day
Like today, in Middle L.A.

The kids with cameras
Follow the kids with skateboards
The dogs on leashes
Obey the cats on cell phones
The rain looks as if it's coming
But it won't
The sun will win out
The sky will break out

But weather is weather
And irrelevant
So let's go
To a path of razor blades
To a field of gopher holes
To a river running through
The cities east of here
The continents west of here
The earth is shaky
My eyes are open wide
Let's go on another ride
Demolition derby
County fair and crushy stares
From girls with funnel cakes
But now's not the time for regrets

It's as if the weight
Has bounds and limits
Maps with insets
Here on a Saturday
At ease and play, in middle L.A.

The soundtrack has been silent
Since the broken down version
Of the laminated streets
Put their hex on us
But it's cool
Fires have burned out
Albums have come out
Sequels have panned out
Little lost kids
Have turned their tears to food
For a minor revolution
Marching on City Hall
Misbehaving on the bus
Losing their siblings' trust
Reading books and seizing lands
Writing treaties, breaking treaties
It's a trajectory

It IS a better day
Than the blue black yesterdays
Or the tow trucks in the haze
There are no alleys on these streets
Just the blind and blank at play
In easy breezy middle L.A.

Everything makes more sense
And holds less truth
In the plural

October 27, 2007