City of Angels

thank you taking time to read, to comment and wish me well. i just read some of your poems and understand that you are a patriot, you care about people.

i may have failed in the attempt but the poem is intended as spiritually inclined observation. the social and economic forces that shaped and continue to shape the city are subjects i am not able to distill in a poem. even if I properly understood them, i do not have the skill. i reveled in the beauty of the place, was grateful for it, but could not escape the contradictions or ignore the ironies.

the “angels” as you know, are the homeless, aged, the sick, the subsistence poor. the poem is informed by the biblical concepts of angels as strangers appearing in our lives. they, the angels, provide a spiritual opportunity for the “blest”, but the “angels” are for the most part, ignored. the “blest” are somehow or by some measure, indeed “blest”, but in referencing their adornments, the word “dream” is used, not “lives”. i thought to use “lives” but no matter what wealth one has, people are inclined to wish or want for more. the lights, marble, glass, and steel are beautiful, but they are or can be “cold” and will not endure, the sea and stars are beautiful but the sea at the city of angels, is also the repository of ugly refuse and effluents below its sparkling surface, the stars are dimmed by the city lights and waves are honey only in dreams. 

yet, i loved it there, my friends, the people, the streets, bike paths, the alleys, the green and living things that adorn the place, the things to do. however, the irony was always present when i looked out my windows or drove or biked or walked its streets. i live someplace different now. the place is beautiful, but as consciousness requires and blesses, irony in its many forms still attends me. it’s nice to have met you here, i will certainly continue to enjoy reading your poems and postings