Poetry
• Valedictory - Lance
Diskan
• Taking It - Hillary
Kaye
• For Hippie John - Tina
Catalina
• First Venice Beach
Drumcircle - Bill Fleeman
• Monday
Morning at the 7-11 - John Haag
•
Venice - Edwin Vásquez
VALEDICTORY
By
Lance Diskan
July
4
Oh
Venice
My beloved
friend,
How can I ever leave
you?
Do I leave
you;
Or do you leave
me?
You who have sheltered
me
Through all these
years,
Dazzled and inspired
me,
Surrounded me with
friends,
My
community;
The home where I grew
up,
Learned to
live,
Struggled through the many
years
Of tears and
laughter?
Too many memories to
remember!
Here on the ocean’s
edge
We have walked and
danced,
Eight thousand sunsets
shared
Caring for one
another;
Lover,
Companion
from boyhood to parenthood,
How good
it’s been
To watch the passing days in
your embrace,
Knowing of those who came
before,
An unending arcade parade of
souls
Living out their
dreams,
It seems just yesterday I
arrived
And now I must tear myself away from
your show
And
go
Into the soft, quiet
mountains.
My mind cannot
recall
All my heart’s
fill:
The ones who’ve come and
gone,
The moments
savored
Flavoring my poignant, pungent
brew;
You!
You
have changed so constantly -
Just a
never-ending stream
Of visions,
voices
Vanishing now like the western
horizon
As my life moves into a new
dawn.
I am but a single tale in your
proud and profane history;
But oh, dear
town,
You are the magic in my
life,
The very time when life was
full
Of friends,
places,
Faces that will haunt my
days.
Oh,
Venice
My beloved
friend,
I can never leave
you.
We are
together
Now and
always
One.
*************
Taking
It
By Hillary
Kaye
O.K., I'll stand here for a
million days,
taking
it
taking
it
coming and
going
just like everybody
else
taking
it
taking it as if I
cared
taking it as if there was a way out of
it
no more pretending that there is a
way
not to take it one way or the
other.
oh taking
it,
acting like I never took it
before.
O damn I guess I'll have to be a
lady,
and take it like a
man.
************
For
Hippie John
By Tina
Catalina
There ain’t no
“Hip Song”
HIP
enough,
To sing- for HIPPIE
JOHN.
There ain’t no “BIG
WORDS”
BIG enough,
To bring - for BIG BAD JOHN!
There ain’t no
“FAREWELL”
FAIR
enough
To play- Farewell my
Friend...
There ain’t no “SWEET
WORDS”
Sweet
enough,
To
whisper...
Amen
************
First
Venice Beach Drumcircle
By
Bill Fleeman
the first venice
beach
drumcircle
happened
the magic summer of
'59.
u'd see
tamboo
a.k.a. curtis
smith
kneeling seven feet
tall
head thrown back
black
against the red ball
sky
out on the
sand
way down by the
surf
where the cops wouldn't
go
on account of
sand
in their
shoes.
u'd hear the conga
drum
crash boom
sound
clear from
the
venice west
cafe
door ajar or
not
where sponto is
now.
sondra t u said it
took
5000 signatures
to
save the
drum
from dying
like
a grunion in the
sun.
listen so u
know
the circle is the
same:
just above the
sound
of the
breakers
u can hear the
echo
of tamboo's
drum
& his
song:
"this generation
don't
dig violence,
man."
***********
MONDAY
MORNING
AT THE 7-11
By John
Haag
The alcohol
addicts
arriving at six
o’clock,
buying their beer or
bumming for
wine,
Everybody
waiting
for the morning
deliveries
of milk and
newspapers
or something to
start
The day with,
hoping
that nothing goes
wrong:
but, of course, the
outside newspaper
rack
Swallows their
quarters
without
recompense.
***********
VENICE
by
Edwin Vásquez
It is a
sea
where rivers of
people
flow unaware of the surprises
ahead.
It is a
place
where the constant
interaction
of colors,
shapes
forms and
languages
creates a venue like no other in
the world.
Venice
is
a multicultural
ecosystem
on its
own.
The ecliptic
style
the uniqueness of the
community
is the perfect
formula
to fall in
love.
For me, a simple
mortal
is a diamond in the
Pacific
where a blue silk
ocean
reflect the
spirit
of thousands of
tourists
smiling,
walking,
absorbing,
the
energy and the light
of the California
sun.
Venice is
pleasure
Venice is freedom.
Posted: Tue - July 1, 2003 at 06:56 PM