"ucla" poems
Crawls out of tree trimming truck
Open windows, vacancy
Passer by calls out, “Home, Sweet Home”
Smile replies “Good morning projects”
Stretch, yawn, alive another day
Stacks in hand, bravado declares
“Hey, it just takes twenty to roll.”
Cars roll up, dealing time
“Mother **** get off my line”
If his head wasn’t cracked like a fish on a hook
He could have made serious book
Screens left in car pockets, empty balloons on asphalt
**** this player’s playin’
Strawberries crawl out of woodwork
Rocks off for rocks transactions—no cash pay
Maybe this one will let you stay
Yo Becky, how are your kids?
**** ups from the past recite their script,
“You going to cop?”
Sprung like a Safeway chicken
You know the drill, just walk it off
Strung out with eyes afire
Well acquainted with your veins
Taking care to bleach needles
What about bloodied syringes, *** brains?
Got in trouble with your boys again
This time there’s no runnin’ anywhere
Pulled you off the top of the fence
Almost left your finger up there
Took a ride in an ambulance
Was it fun?
Your little sister and I flew
Picked you up from County UCLA Harbor
She cried the second she saw you
Don’t know if you even saw her
Since your eye was out of socket
Went up north to heal but started to deal
Big sister’s growing skunk
Little brother’s in Chino with Ming Tai
Big brother’s on America’s Most Wanted
Is this typical projects funk?
Brothers, sisters, homeboys, sensei all had voices
You had talent, promise but made other choices
Maybe now, brother, you can rest in peace
Here lies Shawn
All his heroes were dealers
Feb 22, 2010
Feb 22, 2010 at 11:19 AM UTC
Its about noon on Wednesday
UCLA had a shooting
Fox news reports
that the kids are still
trapped in the classrooms
waiting
Now that it is contained,
the excitement has died down
from our side,
but the kids there will always be
The guy in the science building that heard the doorknob wiggle as bullets wailed in the distance.
The girl that peed herself because she was afraid she wouldn't make it to her sister's Quincinera.
The teacher who never thought he'd see the day.
We're left with our hands up,
'Is this it?'
Is this what we're left with?
A man, full in his head,
bored at his hands
and a gun?
'Is this it?'
and two sets of parents, who won't see their children grow to be the ones who walked at graduation.
'Is this it?'
Jun 1, 2016
Jun 1, 2016 at 3:38 PM UTC
at college....ucla......i963
this high school buddy who had joined the navy comes visit and he says
"the funniest thing happened.....i'm stationed in viet nam..and......."
"viet nam" i says....where the heck is viet nam?"
he looks at me as if i'm stupid and says...."south east asia!
......anyway, i'm on duty...at the radar .....all of a sudden , sirens goin offf!!!!
'we're under attack!"
well, we all just starin at the radar....not a thing...not a friggin thing!!!!!!!
weird!"
he tells me the name of his boat was the TURNER JOY and this took place in the BAY OF TONKIN
a few months later.......congress passes the gulf of Tonkin resolution and the WAR IN VIETNAM commences.
i, of course......was "against the war!!!!!
funny what a little FACT can do, isn't it?
Jul 26, 2010
Jul 26, 2010 at 4:01 PM UTC
Under the ewclo, ucla, euclip......
..under the peppermint tree
in the inter scholarship spelling bee, but
eucalyptus spoiled it for me,
back to the drawing board.
May 8, 2015
May 8, 2015 at 1:30 AM UTC
I parked the car in downtown
San Pedro
I stood in the rain outside the
Cabrillo Hotel
The people looked awful
Battered
There was a homeless punk woman
With face tattoos
Staring at me from her dry corner
A 50 year old woman spilled from the bar to the street
She reeked of wine
********* Some ******* dropped me off here and left! Can you give me a ride? That son of a ***** My husband's a doctor ****** My son goes to UCLA! Can you give me a ride?"
She reeked of ****
A small ***** old man sat on the bar
Steps
Smoking Buglers
He shook his head at me
"Don't do it son, she's outta her mind."
The landlord finally came down
Showed me Rm. 101
It was a 30x25 space
With a mini fridge, closet, the mirror
A sink to **** in
The landlord said "You can see the downtown from the window."
I looked out
A trash can in an alley.
I just kept thinking about
Fante's Ask the Dust,Dreams from Bunker Hill
Bukowski's poem How to be a Great Writer
I hoped they were right
"I'll take it."
The first night the couple next door
Had a fist fight
And a fat cockroach crawled up my back in bed
The drunks ran up and down the halls at 3AM
I was not happy
But Rm 101 toughened me up
Very well
It became my oasis in hell
I have everything I need
Coffee maker, air mattress, radio
Beers in the fridge, big stack of books, most importantly
A place to get away
From the madness of the people
And when I finally get out of this
********
I think I might miss it
Dec 14, 2015
Dec 14, 2015 at 11:28 AM UTC
prying eyes think i’m dumb
but i’m not stupid
i’m just numb
Jun 7, 2023
Jun 7, 2023 at 2:40 PM UTC
the baby shower was tomorrow
the beers were packed,
I was off to LA and the contingency was dancing with some kind of ecstatic zoetic
energy,
In an hour time I will be at UCLA
Bruin territory
possibly drunk
possibly stumbling
picking up a friend,
cheers,
to be in Los Angeles again
the timing was
rite,
the reunion was perfect. -Shane Book
Jun 1, 2016
Jun 1, 2016 at 9:25 PM UTC
She ran for the highschool track team
She ran her way all the way to UCLA
She runs before the sun comes up
and one day
She'll run away
and never return
Mar 8, 2013
Mar 8, 2013 at 10:21 AM UTC