Blue Bus To L.A. Downtown,1996 Poem by Ananta Madhavan

On Tuesday we took the Blue Bus to explore
Los Angeles downtown, China town and Little Tokyo;
Saw huge civic buildings agleam with glass and chromium,
And shining marble-faced panels.

Yesterday was Thursday, cold and rainy. Best indoors,
The library of Santa Monica will be comforting.
Shopping takes time. An old lady is at a table,
With a pair of scissors, cutting pieces of old newsprint;
She sneezes, blows her nose on paper napkins.
A small girl, three-year old perhaps, moves about freely,
Climbs on to that table, past a computer keyboard;
She then takes up a pencil and paper, talks to herself;
Unreproved, free to grow to freedom if she wants.

I have learnt a bit of local lingo. ‘Hang out' at the Plaza
De la Reina de Los Angeles. ‘So long'; ‘See you around';
‘Have a nice day'. ‘High jinks' and ‘downside'. I read
A review of ‘The End of Affluence' by a ‘slowdown' author.

That tiny tot of three must be close to thirty years old.
Much has changed, and much remains, I hope she found
She could grow up and find her own freedom.

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