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I am alive in Los Angeles!...

02/11/2001 03:23

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mike sonksen

I am alive in Los Angeles! I am alive in Los Angeles here in the wild wild west. As the warm wind hits my face I walk across stained concrete. I cry tears of joy on Flower Street..

I am alive in Los Angeles!

I am alive in Los Angeles

here in the wild wild west.

As the warm wind hits my face

I walk across stained concrete.

I cry tears of joy on Flower street.

I watch families dancing

On their porches on Christmas eve.

I smile widely.

As I move thru the city my heart beats

Swiftly as sirens speed by me.

I revel in the sadness 'cuz my soul is deep

I take full responsibility

Give me everything!

It hurts it's so beautiful.

That universal soulful multicultural

Emerging worldwide tribe people

I am alive in Los Angeles!

I am alive in Los Angeles where the angles change like isosceles.

Citywide topographies

undulate across massive landscape

moving from chain-link to palatial gates into

separate economic states with rising birth rates

below hilltops in the streetscapes.

One can barely even equivocate

the fluctuations in rent so evident all across from block to block to block.

Extravagance and adversity interlock:

Palatial spots, cross walks, burrito shops,

housekeepers hanging out at bus stops, the Country Club's all walled off.

The city's blowing up like a molotov

even when I'm in the shower I hear the horns honk.

I am Alive in Los Angeles!

I am alive in Los Angeles!

It's another day in paradise

beneath burnt palm trees

lovin' that cool breaze

in the city of dreams where

the people match the furniture.

Where old abandoned landmarks

are used for filming..

Driving listening to Miles Davis

Or electronic music I move thru traffic

Loving the inner city dynamics.

Midcity magic moves from happiness to tragic,

Adversity to extravagance like

Korean grandparents moving slowly to

Catholic school children crossing fearlessly..

I saw a stray dog that looked like Spud Mackenzie

Wandering by the Belmont Tunnel on 2^nd Street

Live and direct in the Rampart District.

I am alive in Los Angeles!

where all the people are stopped stifled up in gridlock.

Everywhere roadblocks cause charged reactions.

Waves of chaos are collapsing keeping people bottled up.

Tempers are rising up, desperate drivers look for shortcuts but there's no way around it.

I am alive in Los Angeles!

I am alive in Los Angeles

& even in traffic I'm feeling the happiness,

feeling the tragic, feeling the adversity, feeling the extravagance,

feeling it's spirit & feeling it's magic..

I am alive in Los Angeles!

Hancock park to the Rampart, 213 to 562,

405 to Westwood, Venice to Franklin,

all i'm ever doin;' is drivin'.

Drivin', drivin', Drivin' Koreatown to cerritos,

Hollywood to Long Beach, Inglewood to the Valley,

105 to 818, 323 & you might be late 'cuz it's packed on the streets..

There's magic on these streets where crossroads of the world meet..

There's too many places to eat,

Too many people to meet &

no time to sleep in this angel of a city..

I am alive in Los Angeles!

I AM ALIVE IN Los Angeles!

I am alive in Los Angeles!

Poets Note:"I am alive in Los Angeles!" was first

performed by Mike & shortly thereafter PhiL

had a verse.. As the two began performing it

around town many others would simultaneously join in such as Besskepp, GaKnew, LAdyvette,

Leyda Del Sol, Ismail, Ratpack Slim, Brandon Backhaus, Rachel Kann & several others have jumped in at one time or another.. The piece

has taken a life of its own, even being performed at the Los Angeles Theater Center last year as a part of the Edge Fest Theater Festival with over 10 poets kickin' verses..

Mike recently performed the poem at USC

during the conference, "Los Angeles at the Millennium--Identity and Community in the 21st Century City." Mike & PhiL kicked the piece following Mike Davis' keynote speech..

Pete RocK beatboxed...

SHARE: DIGG

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Comments (5 posted):

brandon backhaus on 03/11/2001 01:25

i too breathe deep this yellow air and rejoice... my voice uplifting... sifting through context to find reflexes to this urban scenario below the ground and between the lines... i find that this city, even though toted as glitz and rich, is rich in culture and life... helicopter above, just another night in los angeles where i be alive... ducking through alleys and busting through lies... looking the people on my corner in the eyes and see that they too are alive in los angeles... i remember that failing to be marketed to nuclear families in the midwest does not invalidate thier existence... resistance to being handed a life packaged and contrived... is what makes them even more alive... in los angeles... where lessons are learned everyday when one looks around and sees thier reflection on the side of the first floor of a 20 story building juxtaposed by that of the reflection of man sleeping in between the cracks... now that is refection.. the kind that looks back... stressing these lessons learned... earned a right to say forget getting burned.. you best believe i will be out before in siren's light shadows're discerned against the cement... repent from the serpent and the rainbow... zombie failing to see those / unvacant eyes staring at invisible stars and shaking heads low... those alive in los angeles until dead yo...

ps- yo mikey... just a lil sumptin sumptin to let ya know i read the shit... alive in los angeles was the best performance of the year at zen... hands down... peace - b

-brandon b

shlomo on 04/11/2001 13:32

I can say that without a doubt this piece had a huge influence on my life

peterock on 07/11/2001 13:50

word.

Shantron on 29/03/2002 09:35

DOPE! DOPE! DOPE!

mighty dog on 15/04/2003 09:41

i'm dead in los angeles

i'm dead in los angeles

but i feel alive 'cause that's what the billboards tell me
as i sit in my mobile can
ignoring the warm breeze
drivin from one intersection of hell
to another.

total: 5 | displaying: 1 - 5

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