The sun punches through the

ashy clouds as I

walk through the city.

I see yellowing pamphlets

on telephone poles advertising,

“cash 4 junk cars.”

I step over dying husks of

palm tree bark

spattered with black

and white bird crap.

I walk past a homeless

man living in a hutch

of tarps pulled over

gas lines.

Even the historical site

has benches marred

and scarred with graffiti,

reading:

“Wicked Minds”

and

“Rip Lil’ Man

01-08-17”

The city rots in

vibrancy.

Joel Bush reads things. He also writes things. Well, sometimes he reads the things he writes. He is the winner of the 2021 CSUF Earth Day Poetry Contest, and his work has been featured in Poetry Super Highway and The Five Two. He served as an editor for DASH literary journal. He does not currently have a social media account for his writing, but his poems are attached below.