Mike Sonksen: poem

LA MYTH V. REALITY

The Democratic convention took Downtown Los Angeles to glamorous dimensions.
Purple spotlights shining,
salsa dancing, people protesting,
tons of news vans.
It was brighter then Las Vegas
with an outrageous police presence.
The LAPD was practicing public policy bordering on insanity while protestors
Raged Against The Machine.
I saw college kid protestors walking through Pico-Union like it was nothing.
How was he supposed to know it was the Rampart District? You could tell by
his backpack Nader advertisements he was from New Hampshire marching through
inner city Los Angeles.
Political followers, anarchists, journalists, thousands of people descending
upon the Pershing Square protests. WATCH OUT! RUBBER BULLETS! like the
STAPLES CENTER UNREST BELOW THE CURVED CHAIN LINK FENCE it went way beyond
the Lakers Championship-
this is politics.
So the police sit at every intersection, helicopters keep circling while Los
Angeles celebrates itself salsa dancing.
Street festivals, party people reveling in block parties- delegates,
paparazzi, security so much surreal activity in the central city- the 2000
DNC-
is it LA Myth or Reality?
A festival of angels,
multi-cultural murals,
vibrant visuals flashing
in the night sky,
glamorous sequins shine,
Celia Cruz shakes her behind,
salsa dancers grind in the neon night.
The glamorous life!
Democratic delegates in Los Angeles celebrating Latin culture with street
festivals on Hope Street.
Glamorous images so sweet you can turn on your TV to see myth-makers
broadcasting a mystique that wasn't even a reality after August 19th.
The city pulled out all its tricks like it did for the '84 Olympics.
After the convention ended there wasn't too much salsa dancing in Downtown.
The only reminders were the LAPD and littered streets. But if you turn on
your TV you can see the glamorous images of LA salsa broadcasting
internationally.
LA is the capital of artificiality. This is LA Myth VS. Reality.