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Professional dilettante James Franco has published a poem that wrestles with Los Angeles' bloody colonial origins. It's been praised as "perfect," "the essence of L.A." and Ginsberg-esque by the commenters of Instagram, but of course it's hilariously bad.
Since we've never been published in the esteemed pages of "The American Poetry Review" ourselves, we don't want to take him to task for images like "Girls so gorgeous brown, pounded into mush and then made into stories" or ponder whether the author identifies as one of the "naked, drugged, stupid, happy, young actors."
Instead, we're going to get on his case for not knowing the city. His worst offense is naming "Los Filez" as one of the places where "Spanish blood flowed in the rivers." Really? He doesn't know Los Feliz? He also says Los Angeles Blvd. and 4th Street is one of the four square blocks downtown where there's "nothing but crack addicts." He probably means Los Angeles Street.
Here's the entire poem, but he warns us: "I write poems - if that bothers you, Don't read 'em."
James Franco (Instagram)
If you want more, Curbed LA points out that he has another poem about the movies in The American Poetry Review. And the site tells us, "His first book of poems, Directing Herbert White, is forthcoming from Graywolf Press in 2014."Disclaimer: Any misspellings in this post were subtle homage to Franco's unique style.
