I Am Alive in Los Angeles – Identity and Local Time & Space in Mike Sonksen’s Letters to My City: 2nd Edition
In Los Angeles Literature’s newest book review, burgeoning Southeast L.Á. writer, Gabriel Lopez, reviews the 2nd edition of “Letters to My City” by MIke Sonksen. “While this collection deepens a person’s knowledge of Los Ángeles history, more importantly it profoundly shifts their understanding and relationship to Local Time and Space..” Continue reading I Am Alive in Los Angeles – Identity and Local Time & Space in Mike Sonksen’s Letters to My City: 2nd Edition
The poet Mike Sonksen knows more about Los Ángeles than almost anyone. It began when he was a kid, his father and both grandfathers introducing him to the sprawling city by taking him on destination drives. Due to his father’s love of architecture, having, “taught me about…Frank Lloyd Write from an early age,” Sonksen “had a natural interest in maps and geography.” Those drives fostered that interest, dipping in and out of distinctly planned and inhabited neighborhoods that made up the patchwork quilt of, not only the city, but Los Ángeles County.
Mike Sonsken has been a fixture in the Los Angeles Literary community for two decades. He burst on the scene spitting spoken word verse late into the night, at many venues, events, and open mics, some that no longer exist. During the course of these two decades he’s traveled to Echo Park and Sylmar, Venice and the Eastside, Downtown and Torrance, and everywhere in-between, performing poems laced with the city’s stories and history, hosting open mics and readings, being a tour guide to its streets, teaching students poetry and encouraging them to explore who and what Los Ángeles is.
Los Angeles Literature 