365 Words About Los Angeles
I wasn’t one of those people who
woke up one day & decided
that I would
become an actor or even a
poet
it is all I have ever wanted or was going to be
been coming here since I was 7
like some T.E. Lawrence of L.A.
I belong in this desert
cannot imagine myself anywhere else
I longed to breathe the smog
hump the bumper to bumper
play the freeway virtuoso like a violin
captured by the crowded streets
immersed in the tall chaos & beauty of its
massing chronic diversity
couldn’t wait
when I got here oh so many years ago
people would say,
“I figure I’ll give it 5, 10 years at the most,
then I’m outta here.
How about you?”
my stock response would be,
“I’m here.”
they didn’t get it
never got it
& now they are gone
only as good as the mind & memory will allow
& myself?
I am truly astonished that I have ever
made my living as an actor
even more astonished that I have
made any dough as a poet
yet never doubted that I would
it is all process
that is all that there is
nothing
else
nothing
cars & rent
ex wives marriage & girlfriends
a storm of fair weather friends acquaintances &
friends like a river that lift me up & carry me home
punkers mods slackers beatniks poets & those sad actors that always only
talk about
this business that lights everything & is the music of
yes it is still possible
whatever
it is
drugs sex & presidents like rock stars
taxes & money
fires floods riots earthquakes
children &
youth
all of these things have without thought or malice
swallowed the sweet & bitter years like
candy
the sound of the telephone like one hand clapping
the dark centrifugal vortex of depression &
love in all its many forms
is still
thankfully
love
birth & death & birth &…
so today
& everyday
when somebody asks me
how I am doing,
“I’m still here.”
is all I ever need to say
pointing to the outfield
waiting
for the next hard fast ball to
dance over the plate
unborn again
book review with michael baskinski
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 | s.a. griffin
green hills memorial park - march 9. 2000
S.A. Griffin is a crash vampire living in Los Angeles. He is a Cadillac wrangling son of the Lone Star State. His mother was Venus on the halfshell, and his father was a used car salesman. He is rhythm and oxygen.
 Thursday nites / 12:30a.m., Midnite Pacific Slacker Time. The Auto Zone w/S.A. Griffin. Radio free radio on the net
http://www.killradio.org/.
Be late!
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