Asking Los Angeles

Look, I asked the city for salvation

and her wings spawned a murder of crows

at the La Brea exit; I was holding

the bag wondering where that raven

haired ghost went running off to,

then I said nevermind

just let the crows peck out my eyes

because I didn’t want to see

where she eventually wound up.

 

Look, I asked the city for mercy

and she bared steely knives,

turned surgical precision, she

shoved them in my liver & spleen

while at 4^th & Wall black calloused

tongues licked the pavement plate clean.

 

Look, I asked Her to help me, mend me

instead she reminded me of relentless eidetic moments

and then denied me a healthy dose of fear

eked out decimation on the map,

from Eastern to Western

& left clarity in wisps of tailpipe smoke

 

Look, I asked her for the harbinger

but the phone rang it was the coroner

with news from Above, the coffin

was afire near a freeway, near Mom’s house

the toxicology report didn’t say ETOH & THC

but I’m writing that

in the family chart

now.

 

Look, I asked her to pray for me;

and received sirens

flames & wind whipped palm trees

apocalypse & punishment

a third degree blistering pustule-breeze

across the arms inked & storied

with the question mark roadmap

that’s been life

thus far.

 

Look, I planted succulents under moonshine

And glassy eyed harried mothers pushing

Their swaddled solutions in strollers

up Sisyphus’s peak

 

look I’m remiss in my absolution.

 

Look, I left this here for you to read, it’s a note.

 

It says:

 

Look, I asked the city for salvation…

— ca. 2011. East Los Angeles, CA.

[Copyright 2018 “Bad Days, Binges, Bullets, and Bureaucracy.” M.A.B]