Shell Station, Santa Fe Street

This is an old gas station

in downtown L.A. that I passed during

a somewhat lonely, desolate walk around

the mostly abandoned streets. I walked down

one long boulevard, empty of any noticeable

life forms, that crossed underneath a freeway

overpass, where a hooded man solitarily

was going through cardboard boxed filled with

clothes and other items. I thought about asking

for his photo, as is my usual inclination,

but sensed that he needed to be left alone,

and I walked on, drawn by the

burnt orange light of

this Shell Station on Santa Fe Street

in the distance

like a beacon of potential,

a sign of life,

beaming to me

across the sad, dark sea.

 

Then I went to a party.

Done