Venice Beach

There are canals, like in Venice, in

Venice Beach. did you know that?

I did not know that.

not until recently when, we took a drive

over there.

the canals are not far from Venice Beach,

that beach with the

grotesque carnival atmosphere.

they are set back a few blocks

but, it may as well be another world.

the canals are lined with quaint little houses.

so serene. so picturesque.

so colorful.

it is a little village set

in a fantasyland.

like a suburb of Disneyland.

mother loves the canals.

perhaps it reminds her of the real Venice, the

one in Italy.

she’s always saying, “Let’s take a drive to the

Venice Canals.”

the canals are O.K. but, I much prefer

the grotesqueries of Venice Beach proper with

its circus-like Boardwalk,

the madmen lurking there, the carnival barkers,

the drunken and doomed souls the shipwrecked

sixties veterans and the rappers hustling CDs.

this to me is Los Angeles. this to me is

the end of the world.

this to me is the future.

it is inevitable.