Ellay

On the Coast, in the semitropics, We feel strange with deciduous trees. There's something about their nude branches That reminds us of elbows and knees And the bones of our bodies generally With our organs, blood and skin. We rely on Botox and banana trees To lock our youthfulness in, To ensure that we haven't a wrinkle, To keep every season at bay. Here we don't count the minutes or hours. A year is the same as a day. The Pacific fog rolls in at night, And to glimpse the sky is so hard, We prefer to admire the stars below That are carved on our boulevard. Throughout the Los Angeles basin We do our aerobics and jog. We are young, we are lean, we are healthy, We intone as we gulp in the smog, Which we wrap around us like a blanket For security plus a disguise. If sudden tears flow, nobody will know: Heavy sunglasses shelter our eyes.