By Kimberly Garcia, English 2600, Cal State LA, fall 2022

Los Angeles; the City of Stars 

Los Angeles 

The City of Dreams 

The City of Lights, Camera, and Action 

The City that is always Sunny 

Los Angeles 

The City of the Dodgers 

The City of the Lakers 

The City of the Rams 

Los Angeles 

The City of Dreamers 

The City of Street Vendors 

The City of Opportunities 

Los Angeles  

The City full of Homelessness 

The City without Water 

The City with a Rotting Past 

Los Angeles 

A place full of broken promises 

Such as Chavez Ravine 

A community displaced 

In order to gentrify our streets 

To bring in money to corporations 

And not care whether our kids have enough to eat  

Los Angeles  

A city full of tragedy 

Where most kids will become gang members, instead of 

College Graduates 

Where helicopters shake our beds in the middle of the night 

All you hear is the turning of the propellers 

Wishing one would get stuck on the damn palm tree 

While the light shines through the windows, looking  

For YOU 

Potentially a future you 

The walls rattle;  

Sleep it off 

Los Angeles 

A city that doesn’t care unless we can offer a check  

To build unaffordable apartments 

Where most people who look like me, built those  

Homes 

But don’t receive the amount that they deserve 

Cause without that green card 

Do they even deserve a say 

Los Angeles 

Home of many 

Never heard but seen 

From the illuminating sky towers of Downtown 

To the dark pit that is Skid Row 

We Will Be Heard 

Los Angeles 

We shout, we scream 

“We Want Change” 

It echoes throughout the city 

When injustices come, we fight hand in hand 

From the invisible shackles 

We break free 

To use our voices 

For those in need 

Los Angeles 

A diverse city where we don’t back down 

LA riots to George Floyd 

To protect our neighbors 

To protect our streets 

To protect our city 

Los Angeles; Our Home