Welcome to La La Land

LA LA Land

L.A. calls me

from the snowy banks

of Cleveland piled high

and once pure white

like my innocent years

but now left a gritty black

from the accumulations

of my adulthood tainted

by the darker sides

an existence

we all endure.

I flee from the btter cold

that turns my nostril hairs

to icicles and make a decision

to wing across the sky

and spend some time

in la la land, full of

sunshine and

much warmer climes

Venice beach

to stroll and skate

the paved paths

along the beach

to study the locals

who are far more freaky

then I could ever be

while I suckle the tang

of the ocean air

and listen to the spacific

rumbling of the surf.

then off to Hollywood Blvd.

gotta a date to stroll its

glitzy length length

and idly dream

of my chances missed

for the big screen

I did T.V. radio and stage

mixing commercials

and dramatic rage

playing out the scripts

of other folks dilemmas

but I never got this

far out west

I went on with a

less glamorous life

and perhaps it was

for the best.

I could have wound up

an an unemployed

actor playing a

harried waiter

in between casting calls

that were just

a wrong number.

Instead

I press my hands

where stars once placed

their fingermarks

so neatly spaced

and feel that distant

call once more

from my lost youth

so long before

I'll seek out cafes

for my needs

to take the open

mike and read

some words that

cause my soul to bleed

throw on some shorts

with sandled feet

and write some poems

out in the street

with a tiny tape

recorder left on.

I'll capture

California's dawn

as I detail faces

passing by

I'm sure that some

will make me sigh

the homeless and

the destitute

the mimes their sad

eyes soft and mute

the freaks and geeks

that haunt the yards

of concrete

on that boulevard.

The wanna be's who

no longer want to be

anywhere but back home.

I'll take to dining

somewhere strange

that serves slow food

not fast

I came here hoping

to find a change

a brief hiatus

from the cold

a thawing as

my bones unfold

to stretch out here

beneath the palms

absorbing the light

the warmth and calm

perhaps a small

beach rental

where I'll dream

that has all the basics

neat and clean.

for I am just a visitor

who has long been

not in any way awed

by the lure of those

9 letters that sit high on a hill

I am just passing through

sampling what could have been

had I dared to take the gamble

that som many

other dreamers

like me did.

some succeeded

and others sadly failed.

and late at night

in the ocean breeze

blowing through

tall palms that do not

beg for cash

I can almost hear

the wails of all of

the dreamers

who died here

without ever embracing

the fame they sought.

All too soon

I'll pack again

and head back north

to remember when

I first arrived and

raised my face

In La La land

a lovely place

to visit but to

not embrace

all of the lures

that others chased

until their last hopes

were erased

so many names unknown

some in potters fields

body bags and bones

and some who scraped

up cash to scurry home

to real life jobs

and obligations

that saved them from

the desolation

so many others suffered

here in La la Land.