i have just finished watching michael moore’s
new film about capitalism and the corporate bailouts
stepping outside onto vermont ave in los feliz

brushing up against well-off and moderate-to-high
earning people drinking wine and champagne with
their sidewalk-served dinner, dressing in new trends

driving new model cars, uncaring of the world or
local politics, where activism is defined merely by
voting democrat; and there is a bookstore with a flyer

on its window advertising a reading by dan fante
i am a fan, i have all his books: stories, poetry, novels
and plays, all seven of them (having accidently bought

an overseas reprint); the film ends with a call for
action of all that are in the theatre watching the
documentary and the unfolding events of a system of

government that is eating its own, that operates
without a regard for a future, only immediate profit
once inside the bookstore, i am instantly drawn to a

book near the counter entitled why not socialism?
by g.a. cohen; thinking it funny, i walk toward the poetry
section and stumble directly toward dan fante’s

new book of poems, kissed by a fat waitress
next in another section, without trying i find a few more
books on political dissidence and decide to buy them all

to pay more attention to what, for lack of a better word
i can only describe as signs, things put in front of me
that i should notice and pick up; i am not religious

i don’t believe in god or coincidence – i came into this
store and found dan fante’s newest book
of poems; there is a feeling of rightness, that i am

supposed to be here, in this store, in los feliz, just
having watched a critique on our system of government
to buy fante’s new book, to read up on relevant politics

to act, to do something; i believe in equality; i believe
in a worker-run, classless society that exercises limited
private property and i am honored when i am called a communist.

Luis Rivas
Luis A. Rivas lives in Echo Park and works in the San Fernando Valley selling pornography.