poem of the day 10.21.10

river phoenix

river phoenix died
on this end of the block
of the sunset strip
or he died on the other end
i don’t know
it was years ago
i was never into river phoenix
but once i was into a girl
who practically cried over his death
she sat in the student union
held a people magazine to her face
her eyes filling with tears
she told me how very sad that it was
river stumbling out of the viper room
going this way or that
his girlfriend and brother in toe
a stumbling speed ball of death
on the neon soaked strip
i thought then how so many people die
in so many ways
some suffer cancer
others the bullet
a lot simply get taken over by life
i thought, river phoenix
you rich, hollywood fuck
with your designer drugs
and designer life
how dare you splatter
on the cold concrete
when there are girls in pittsburgh
crying over your eternal soul
i think of those moments now
and i laugh over a dead actor
archaic fallacies of love
walking one block of the strip to the next
was it here?
was it there where you stumbled, river?
broke millions of hearts
your career and your life in the process?
does it even matter anymore
when you can’t get a cheap beer
in this part of los angeles
and the sound of her voice
happily escapes me now.