Theater of the Absurd
(see below)
Rip Van Winkle effect
Ghost of nearly 40 years flicker like shrapnel
Dissolve in bright sunlit facts on the ground
An extraordinary hour spent on Mission
When I first came here the district
was certainly dilapidated
despite widespread covert gentrification
it functions as a somewhat lower level
of the general inferno
Still a main thoroughfare
densely populous
ruins and bunkers
thriving shops and diners
The great trees of the Mission
will survive us all
Always busy, always watchful
many street people... some long gone
mission street accommodates
the down and out
Edible cactus
on order
A traditional way of life
to outlast fashion
fresh fruit and pinatas
Mariachis
serenade an eatery
Forever a very musical
part of town
Instruments for sale or rent
Lot of ukes on offer
Holy finger food
Mississippi steel body ukulele
Bet it rocks
Hollywood bling
as worn by Deano
and James Brown
Simple straight forward solutions
to life's many entanglements
Others prefer a more circuitous route
at the superstition herb store
hexes, love potions, sacred potpourri
Phantasmagoria of murals
Some verging on art
Threshold of cartoon world
ZAP comics
Carlos it's-all-too-much Santana
A realm of lurid nightmarish visions
and paroxysmal graffiti
Beats me
Someone very beloved
or very feared perhaps
Tacqueria mural
La Madre
Cool young Mission girl
didn't mind me invading
her privacy I guessed
I dig all the little shops
as they cavalcade past
on the fly
Smoke shops abound
legal now baby
Mota para trabajo
I'm with the fellaheen
love the deep colors
intense floral patterns,
Reminds me of Oaxaca
The fruitarian Summertime
I leave the gold metallic insignia
to the young and flamboyant
A twilight zone with strange talisman
antiquated manikins uncanny effigies
If the hat don't fit
you must acquit
Wear and tear
to mustache and sideboards
inevitable
Choose your illusion
as the cliché goes
Thought I saw someone I knew
Only a replica
of feminist Rebecca
Thrift store with
colorful ethnic clothing
Available for cultural appropriation
by fair bonnie hippie college girls
(or boys)
This manikin has more presence
than perhaps one ought to have
Let's not beat around the bush--
Hookers
I'm on a sub-mission myself
of a strange mean's clothes-shopping
Legendary men's wear store
seen the ads for decades in the
alternate free weeklies
Reputed to have a great selection
of jeans and flannel shirts
Tough outdoor wear
Wow
Tons of slinky low-rider gear
Mexican rodeo finery, Zoot suits
many zany tableaux,
I didn't want to give the wrong impression
but I couldn't help but chuckle
So I forewent a lot of tempting shots
I was flagging a bit by now
and I wanted see the flannel shirts
And because their heart
was in the right spot
Adios Siegel's
I may return someday,
all depends on the cosmic flux
This was the most perplexing sight
on my tour
The formerly grand
El Capitan theatre
I functional building
it retains it's marquee
But when I walked past
it was no longer there
Disorienting murals
covered a void
They gutted the lobby
for a driveway and
the theatre for a parking lot
I felt dizzy and didn't shoot any
close-ups
Didn't fully understand until
I consulted Wikipedia last night
I had entered a
world of symbols
Appliques
a monstrous cell phone
meaningless semiotics
Haunted as I am
by the over-hopping
of craft beer
I bid a fond
yet hasty hasta luego
to legendary Mission street
19 July 2018
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