remember,
love vanquishes all attackers
even when the guy next to you smells
like sour milk
and rancid pinto beans from 1989

so you have an affinity for ghosts?
explore our urban ruins, at most, forget the Queen Mary
ain't nothing as scary
as a spectral Vincent Price and Frank Lloyd Wright
lurking amongst the needles and graffiti in Barnsdall Park

you say you want uniquely terrifying and seedy?
try this rotten picnic table nestled deeply in Griffith Park
atop which two young Angelenos

made love
then died

under the crushing weight of a healthy oak tree
felled by some fell spirit
coordinates thirty four eight thirteen one eighteen eighteen twenty three
if you don't believe me

beware of our luscious palm trees
they will catapult themselves into your
kaleidoscope windshield

or at least it is now

when you find yourself stopped at a green light
once
twice
maybe three light cycles

abandon all fear that you won't reach your goal
just say these words two times each, eight seconds apart:

love
unity
abundance

now, drop anything that feels heavy

you will reach your destination

this isn't a poem
unless you read it

this isn't art
until you see it

this isn't life
until you breathe it

so don't go to a coffee shop expecting to work;
because the hand that feeds will SEIZE a dose of life NEEDED.

learn
Spanish.

if you happen upon
some people making love in the park
it's perfectly OK to stare
everyone is a performer

remember, chances are
you will die in an earthquake bigger than Haiti's
or sizzle in a brushfire más caliente que Hades
or perish on the smog with your stupid lungs that don't breathe
with one of our 3.858 million
love thy neighbor

put an NRA sticker on your apartment door
even if you're a pacifist
trust me

in March the sky is cobalt blue
in August it's haze is the hue of slightly ***** water
a non-color, really
learn to appreciate them both

stop thinking and find Cliff Weber

there's something supremely wonderful
at the end of that ridiculously long line
be patient

take the freeway sampler for long trips to see your horrible family

110
710
405
5
5
405
710
5
101