Chest rises and falls to unknown music
And the air escapes reluctantly from my mouth
Deep rest is unusual for someone who sleeps odd hours
But when it comes, it’s a warning
The birds no long rise at dawn to sing
The stray cats have started daylight wandering
California skies have begun to grey
Rich brown earth is covered with cement
The sirens blare on an hourly basis
The streets become lined with police enforcement
The people are scared to outspeak
The squares in our hands are listening
The ocean is growing warmer
Beached deep-water creatures are ignored
Corals are becoming the skeletons of the sea
The beaches littered in capitalist greed
Men in vests knock on the wrong doors
Pull children from parental arms
The one in power appoints on whim
No one there knows what they’re doing
National forests to be reduced for lumber
Parks to become an extraction ground
International waters to be mining zones
Farmers left to cover unsubsidized costs
A one hundred year prophecy
Disaster strikes in each century
Technological advances have only further divided
The gap between the poor and the opulent
Geneses Navarro is a UCI student.