Wilshire Words: A Poem
What is it about Wilshire
that makes it the equator
of our fair city?
Is it the Berlin Wall
of Beverly Hills
& South City?
The great wall of
housekeepers &
porcelain pretty?
Wilshire is glamourous
& gritty, quintessential
all city...
It personifies all
that is Los Angeles..
pockets of people
pack the boulevard
cars cars cars..
Monuments & mendicants
mix on Wilshire,
single room occupants
keep moving..
The itinerant immigrants
works Wilshire as its
lifeblood..
Wilshire is its source..
the rapidly moving artery
in the city's big body
All aboard!!
Cops & Protestants,
fake i-d's & intoxicants,
transplants & land grants
Wilshire's plan enchants
the populace..
A smorgasbord of
textures & sensations..
Flavors,
architecture, culture..
Wilshire is a river
like the Nile
or Mississippi..
Massive!!
Wilshire is a small
galaxy of Villages,
pockets, neighborhoods..
Is it Rampart Koreatown
or Historic Filipinotown?
One Wilshire
MacArthur Park
Pico Union
MTA west to Western
Old jazz musicians who
played at the Cocoanut Grove
used to drink early at
the H.M.S. Bounty..
Park Mile extends out
of Koreatown
I walked down Wilshire
on stretches east of Crenshaw
glad to be on the boulevard..
One man in a sea of cars..
the big old buildings make
me feel small, concrete canyons
glass & steel..
Wilshire is where fathers & sons
drove to talk about the world
the speedway opens up
past Beverly Hills
ask Christian Slater & Axl Rose..
All aboard: Wilshire!!
Wilshire is where
dreams are made
& tragedy plays
side by side..
Hundred thousand
dollar car$ wait at
red lights right
next to guys panhandling
on the side
sitting on the busstop..
Green light & they're off
but for just a second
their energy intersects..
Wilshire is the crossroads!
213 323 310..
Three different area codes,
taco trucks & TV episodes
Wilshire explodes art deco
skyscraper boulevard
all the way to the ocean
about 16 miles..
Wilshire Words
there aren't enough
words for Wilshire..