being in the mission is becoming
like a benetton ad or like living
in disneyland—no longer a place
of everyday people knowing the
the hardness of daily life and yet
creating joy and beauty
out of a myriad of struggles
instead of theater, poetry, dance, music and art
expressing the aliveness of many cultures
indoor miniature golf and outdoor bowling
are the new cultural wave and bars with
twelve dollar cocktails are ongoing frat parties
and for those hip enough—everything
is an app away—yes, there are a mix of people
who play in their new discovered land
people who look like they’re from different
parts of the globe—but not those who built
this community—the working class irish and
italians or the mexicans who have lived here for
many generations or the refugees from war torn
countries in central and south america or immigrants
from all over asia or the african americans that came
from the east and south of the usa—yes the mission
always was a rainbow—a richness in culture
but now the mission is in great danger of being
a caricature of itself—while the homogenized
cut outs from late 1980’s ads for the united
colors of benetton who all favor the color green
play a new kind of multicultural fantasy
while stealing other people’s homes and dreams.