this is an ode to a city,
my city on the west coast.
my dear los angeles,
my feelings for you are ambivalent.
yet i know i love you like no other city.
you bring out the worst in me
you bring out the best in me.
your city lights cradle me on a lonely night;
your freeways embrace me like a hug.
i love seeing cars go to and from their destinations,
it reminds me that we’re all on a road going somewhere.
we are the capital of materialism
and superficialness.
we have a reputation and you don’t fail to let people forget that.
half the people that move here add to the toxicity,
and people hardly return the sunshine
that los angeles gives us.
my dear los angeles,
how you’ve changed me.
it wasn’t all a positive experience,
it wasn’t.
it’s like almost every los angeles resident
has an eating disorder at one point or another.
kind of like a los angeles staple.
i grew up hating how you made me feel about myself
ugly. small. worthless.
but i know being in this particular environment had an influence on me.
to the city of dreams and thousands of wannabe actors,
you have my heart
always.
when i think about what i love about you?
the culture, the people,
the unhindering sunshine.
you are a magical place
where ridiculous things happen.
you’re a special place.
the combined scent of trash, pollution
and too much perfume.
it will always be a nostalgic scent for me.
you could never be recreated,
you could never be replaced.
to my city on the west coast,
you are one of a kind.
thank you for watching me grow up.
thank you for expanding my heart.
i hope you love me as much as I love you.Â
