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