Arteries of Memory: Wilshire Words

Part 1.
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 glamorous

& 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 it's

lifeblood..

Wilshire is it's 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 & their 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..

Part 2.

The street that married

us damn near buried us,

Wilshire is where it

all started..

She lived a block north

of me off 6th & St. Andrews..

I was on St. Andrews

close to 7th..

We met at Wilshire

in the middle..

Interracial lovers

& racist gangsters

crystallize vibes

on street corners..

We started hanging out

often once we

discovered how close

our places were..

Sooner than later

she was living with me..

They say relationships

can be affected by geography..

We lived in a small apartment

with not enough money

& not enough patience

or capacity to even stand

a chance of lasting..

Lodged between Wilshire

& 6th, the Versailles Apartments

where we lived was also the home of

James Ellroy in his work

My Dark Places..

She had a New York

State of mind

on California time,

an eager beaver in

a bread line,

equipped with a mind

too fast for public transit,

Wilshire went slow,

then fast,

she couldn't stand it..

On the night of one

of our last fights

you left me at the Temple Bar

you took the car
& I walked down Wilshire
you found me 20 minutes later,
I was damn near to West LA,
I almost caught the MTA..
You wouldn't let me get away.. 

-- Mike the PoeT aka Mike Sonksen

Spoken Word Artist, Tourguide, Educator, Journalist, Historian

(image: west on wilshire via "noirish L.A. http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=170279&page=37)