We welcome 2017 with an ode to our booming NoHo Arts District neighborhood – “Lankershim Lights” by Radomir V. Luza.
Lemonade lubricates at Pitfire Pizza while I
Flourish among the flora, flannel and frolicking fairies
Like an emperor elevating esoteric
I watch the movie screen at Laemmles NoHo
Like a guru guiding Gandhi
At Panda Express
The orange chicken is as sweet as the sun
And as mellow as Maui
The beautiful burrito at Chipotle
Is more beatific than Bjorn Borg’s
Blizzard of a backhand
At Big Wangs Kobe Bryant is on ten screens
And it is still not enough
Supper at Vicious Dogs is a salient salute to sauerkraut at sunset
After I have rehearsed with my band at Amp
Like Ozzie oozing alabaster orb
I go to Bob’s Espresso Bar
To mix with metaphysical mop tops
And mingled masterpieces
Like music wafting across the horizon
I feel the night build and bend
Trembling at the knees
Like a lovelorn prince looking for his Cinderella
I discover the deity in the details
The very fingers that mold hands and caress cherubic faces
The Federal Bar finds me
Arcing towards 2 a.m.
Like a panther politely parking his paws in paradise
This Lankershim Boulevard
This corner of my consciousness
This bouquet of flowers on my birthday
This very stone’s throw from Hollywood
This 101 wonderland
And red line ricochet
This reason for God’s reason
Apprehended and analyzed
Like a murder suspect
Like the very grab at grace
We get but once
Staring at the moon
At 3 a.m.
Orange yellow with asphalt lips
Lankershim lights in my dreams
Lankershim lights in my afternoons
Lankershim lights
Spreading across my midnights
And pregnant bites
Only you can stop the polluted fights
And illiterate flights of these muddied nights
Like ambitious kites
My dear sweet
Lankershim lights
On Lankershim Boulevard
I found myself
The rebel and the roustabout
The soldier and the scoundrel
The night tossed me into your orbit
Your very river of regret
Lake Placid of ribaldry
I, the Sir Lancelot of leprosy
The wolf of this whirlwind
The avenged angel on this avenue of acoustic alliteration and accreting illumination
Nearly died to live again
Almost cracked to crumble
On your cement sidewalks and October breezes
Like a marathon runner
Stopped still in his tracks
A bowling ball in the alley
A running back losing the football
And with it his heart
But you saved me Lankershim
Cupping palms
And breathing confidence into confidence
Like a shark
Who discovers that he really is a dolphin
Or a boy who finds that special girl to share the rest of his days with
You bought me the mountain to maneuver
The very lights to shine on my wooden cross
Would you like to contribute your words on our neighborhood, the NoHo Arts District? Send your NoHo poem submissions to our editor.
About the Lankershim Ligts poem author Radomir Vojtech Luza
