LA River bike/walking path

Reflections along the LA River

(In the form of a Hollins University workshop poem)

Blurb, blurb, gurgle gurgle
concrete tub
not really a river, but alive just the same
with plants
and birds and mists and beer cans filled with earth

From Los Feliz Blvd. to the Colorado St. exit---
along the
I-5
I walk the paved path looking for dead bodies in the shallow stream
(a la Chinatown)

as the roar of automobiles is heard
their metal frames the only bodies in sight

I Inhale
the scent of fresh flowers and feces---
Lots of feces.

To my right I pass the golf course
where old men and swingers play
in the early morning drizzle
(thank god for residuals and unemployment).

It is Tuesday
and suddenly a horse ranch
appears through the chain metal fence.
Neigh! Slobber, bray.

Oh Thomas Wolfe, you were mistaken.
I am home again
back in Virginia where rich bitches and stable hicks
ride hard the dirt under drooping trees

our commonality continuing drunkenness from the night before.

I walk off the path under lovely foliage
A worker waves
saying you are welcome
Oh shit no
the jerk is actually yelling at me to get off the property
Screw you LA butt hole

there is no NO TRESPASSING sign!

I continue past the dumping grounds
LA parks and rec,
where recreation goes to die.
Men on bulldozers
push around old scraps of metal and
plastic playground pieces, kinda sad.

Whoa is that a body?
Nope it is just a bird.
Bummer.

I sniff the air, it smells of sea

It is another place of poo

this time human.

LA water treatment plant
your pretty reservoir and fountain
conceal your true filth

like Angelina Jolie.

Next is an office park straight
out
of the Midwest.
And always the concrete river
swelling from rain and pollution
and my tears
since I did not find a dead body and
will not
be
in
the
papers.

I turn around and walk back to my
Ford, dejected, soon I will be in a metal body
a speck on the 5
alone listening to Ira Glass...

Virgina Wolfe, Edgar Allen Poe,
something about the confederacy.




Travel: A
Ease: A
Content:A
Subjective Coolness: A
Overall: A

Directions: Path I took starts where Los Feliz Blvd. and the 5 intersect.
Hours: Dawn to Dusk.
Price: Free!

P.S.- This post is done with great unskilled love.