Opposition work in progress

Unforgiving concrete devours all the grass

Children laughing playing hopscotch on a familiar sidewalk

Insane heat rises off shit black asphalt, boiling our blood and stimulating violence

Cool ocean breeze,
swimming pools,
running through the sprinklers,
cheap plastic fans whizzing day and night,
relief found in the shade of a tall building.

Shotgun shots echo through the alley behind your house, a dead baby found in a dumpster, handcuffs being placed on another juvenile, dope fiends scratching imaginary itches, begging
for spare change in exchange for "God bless you"

Museums and universities crowded with eager minds,
Mom's quesadillas after church,
the freedom of skateboarding to nowhere with homies,
Grandmother's rough touch as she crosses your forehead and recites "God keep you"

Smog the color of cigarette ash robs the sky of it's blueness
and a generation of asthmatics are born gasping for clean in air in vain

Through the haze of the L.A. skyline a sunset becomes
an explosion of pigment,
a box of crayons melting in the sun,
restoring our faith,
reminding us,
we are home.