Ode to LA

 

So, LA, city of which so much is written and said
Of the good, the bad, and the beautiful
If New York never sleeps, then LA never wakes
For this is a city of dreams
Built on foundations of soul
The dreams of our grandfathers woven into the fabric
Their aspirations supporting this city like steel
As four generations of dreamers
Came to the waters of this desert oasis
For the sustenance you could only get here
Here at the edge of the world, the edge of sanity,
And they took what they had inside their heads
And they built it here on the outside of the world
Only the beauty of the mind could make this place
And only the need for beauty could sustain it
Perfect, fragile and apart
A real-life Matrix for those who live in their heads
For those who cannot or will not accept the ugly
The vulgarity, the disparity, the reality
We are the freedom fighters of the imagination
And with every beat of this city’s heart we declare
We are here, we exist, we live, we dream,
We will not be beaten, we will not submit
For as we live, so we create
And so we came, as they had before,
They drank from the oasis and they walked on the streets
And they added their dreams to dreamland
Until the very city speaks in their voices, saying
These are our dreams, they may be humble,
They may be a little tatty and worn,
They may be clichéd, or even overblown
And they may not be your dreams, child
But they are dreams
And we wanted them so hard that the weight of want
Compressed them into something like rock
And built them into a city and filled it with angels
Until the rock wore away in the sun and the wind
Just grains of sand that blow in the street
Grains of glamour, grains of luck
And they wash forever on the beaches of California
Ready to become bedrock again, the fabric of dreams,
For another dream, another dreamer,
Another day in LA. 

Reviews

[Tony]

A powerful and gripping tribute to LA-- "freedom fighters for the imagination"
Yeees, I really dig that line! I mean I like the whole poem but that one really stood out for me. I like the cyclic bedrock imagery you create "the fabric of dreams"-- that's really cool. You cover the struggles and peaks of a city well here-- like I said very powerful write. Oh yes, the repeated dream images through out the poem are fantastic!

[trainwreck]

I loved the line "If New York never sleeps, then LA never wakes." It really really stuck out to me, having been to both cities. It was a very well thought-out tribute, and I have, so far, enjoyed all the tributes I've read from you.

[closed]

This is the most immersive thing I've read in awhile^ Line for line, it feels so concrete when I take it in, as solid as the granite of dreams you allude to in Los Angeles.^

-brilliant

-Dream

[.]

. oh, this is so beautiful ... every word and every line reverberates ... i am instantly reminded of "the city of angels" and "iris" ... this entire ode is like one breath of love, affection, admiration, respect and veneration ... if LA could thank you ... it would ... may it remain the heaven on earth that it is ... god knows there is a dearth of places where dreams may live ...