The Cure for Boulevard

Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. ~ Ronald Reagan

We walked on stars

aligned row on row

beneath the flashing

neon lights

 

passing four ladies

draped in silver

at the intersection

of Hollywood Boulevard

and La Brea Avenue

 

We hopped a Starline

looking for souvenirs

and posed for pictures

beside stars that will

never die

unless they dissolve

in fire

 

We explored strange

new worlds

to boldly go where

no man has gone before

in the shoes of Shatner and Nimoy

putting our hands

in their hands

in front of the temple

guarded by lions

otherwise known as

the Chinese Theatre

 

We felt the promise

and possibility

the ability

to reach for the stars

 

Now, the stars

are littered

with trash and debris

with makeshift houses

and the refuse

of the homeless

with nowhere to go

 

Compassion is on the menu

and coffee is served

with a dollop of dream

but no one seems

to have the answer

 

Happiness is a commodity

that no one can afford

and housing is out of reach

 

Anger reaches new heights

in the lowest of low

with nowhere to go

but down

 

The cure for Boulevard

is not in needles

not in patchwork tents

and not in sympathy

silently expressed

by those who have a home

with a soft bed

and a hot meal

 

The cure is not in the right

or the choice

to be a burden

on everyone else

 

Those who work

suffer the burden

of those who don’t

who won’t

who can’t

be bothered

to care

when no one else cares

 

Everyone has rights

but no one has responsibilities

to themselves

to others

 

We only care for strangers

who invade our home

and evict men of valor

who fought for freedom

 

We are rotting

from the inside out

 

The cure for Boulevard

is the cure for all

 

and it begins with us

 

not a government

 

that closes state hospitals

and gives needles and drugs

to addicts

leaving them on the streets

homeless

who then turns around

and points a finger

at the problem

it created

 

The cure for Boulevard

is voting out the worthless

bums in office

who pose as servants

of the people

but don’t give a damn

about the people

beyond a vote

 

The cure for Boulevard

is in the mirror

 

You have the freedom

to be

homeless

but nothing is free

and you do not have the right

to demand

that someone else

pay your way

 

You can be a star

shining and bright

dim or dying

Author's Note

Reviews

[Fabian G. Franklin]

Wow, this was so powerful and honest. Personal accountability and responsibility are necessities to a working society. Laws can't be policed if the land is completely without morals or rules dictated to the self. We have far too many anarchists and instigators and those who encourage and enable them in positions of power. Portland, Oregon was once a nice place to live before it became a living hell for the residents and a safe haven for drug dealers and vandals. I have a friend who lives there. The problem is spreading like a cancer because it's not even being discouraged, let alone treated. "The cure for the boulevard is in the mirror" powerful. All change begins with self, an important message to take to those at home and those on the street.

[emmajoygreen]

Our world is full of emptiness.. hands that generally give to those that have because they are the powerful could make others' lives bigger and greater because the hands know who and what to back. Giving to the poor empties the pocket of small change that changes not a damn thing. Many care not a fig about that.. absolution of guilt is easy, just as a sticker that boasts 'I have given to charity'. Just as people walk around with mobile phones to their ears, there is tragic population of those who can barely speak even less own a phone. Our world is living in tragedy because so seems a change in what was once termed as the human condition is hopeless: one side of the border is comfort, the other.. not even an alphabet could explain to someone who can't be bothered to guess.

Your words should and just might lead the world from its permanent state of apathy. Th excuse is usually, 'What can I, one person - do?' Ask someone lying in a cold doorway at three on Winter morning!

[Lorry]

Yes indeedly do, Linda.
I remember my first trip to the United States of mythology, when the person I was visiting soon popped my cherry (of innocence) when we took a trip to see what happens to those stars at night and all I could think to say, was a deflated "Oh!"
The reality, which you will not find in any travel guide, or advert for that matter, along the glitzy Street of failed dreams, should not be swept under the carpet, no matter how red that carpet sometimes looks.
To say it was eye popping would be an understatement, but it has never left my thoughts, especially when seeing a premiere event with all its shiny illusions that would have you believe that looking at the shiny is the reality, when it is only there to distract us from the true reality of what life is for far too many, broken dreams and with very few people to help point a way out for them to escape their reality.
Your included picture is but a snapshot of the reality I think of whenever Oscars time rolls around. But at least I am only viewing it and not living their nightmare.
An excellent write, showing the reality behind the American dream, which is rated parental advisory.

[willweb]

You definitely put it out there in this one and I could not agree more. This is a topic I would love to carry further but I think you piece covers it completely

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

As a child of the 60's it is difficult to stand in silence in these difficult days. For we all recognize there are problems regardless of party affiliation on both sides. One side cares for community and may want to do too much to alleviate the situation, while another not so much so. But in the end the blame falls on us all. We are the government. We make the choices to put these people into it. Millionaires make up a little over 8 percent of our total population in the US, and yet over 50 percent of our congress. That is one of manny issues we need to take responsibility for. Electing those that serve their own interests and not of the majority. Because their mantra of fiscal responsibility carries less weight when they are making close to 200 thousand annually. We are subsidizing millionaires at the expense of us all. We can do better, and we must do better, because as we see we are destroying ourselves from within. Equity must mean something again in this country as a virtue to strive for. Because apathy for the less fortunate is getting us no where. We must evolve towards our better humanity as a people. In the richest country in modern history no child rich or poor should ever suffer the indignity of living out in the streets. It should be a choice, not a misfortune. I believe wholeheartedly that change starts with us, individually. And the lack of care or hope in the world today...we are responsible for. We must do better. If we want a government for the people by the people then it must reflect the majority. We are seeing in real time the influence of money in our politics. That must change. Thank you for sharing your poem with us.

[Andra Dare]

It's one of the things that gets my head
out of alignment with my soul
when I see you in the rain
safe in my hole...

As a (mostly) life-long resident of beautiful California, this stirs me deeply. I could write an essay in response, but I'll leave it be for now. Thanks for speaking to this tragic reality, Linda!

[jacob erin-cilberto]

This poem is like a 2023 version of Ginsberg's "Howl" mating with "I am waiting" by Ferlinghetti.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

yes, "you have the freedom to be homeless"----
no matter what party is in office, America is still limping on crutches...just waiting for the amputation to happen because gangrene has set in...and we are doing nothing to stop it.
j.