5 Steps Forward/5 Steps Backward
San Francisco, CA
2025, Junior, Poetry & Spoken Word
A politician walks down the streets of Vegas,
a concrete jungle,
And calls it progress
A step forward-
1.
A 2023 EPA Report told me global warming is projected to increase childhood asthma by 4-11%
Millions of kids who can’t breathe past the steel walls
Market that architect breath-taking
Lungs wearing secondhand smoke– coated
Because thrifting is in style now
Constricting into Hollywood skinny.
Kids gasping like head bobbing over water; each inhalation is a fight against searing heat
2.
10 degrees hotter
Cities on average are 10 degrees hotter says the global studies
10 years from now my skin will be blistering red 10 minutes outside
Dark surfaces retain enough heat to scorch my dreams unrecognizable
Melting into the sidewalks laid by immigrants– This is no jungle
My city is a furnace where neon lights flicker like the licks of flames
3.
Urban cities have heightened risk of psychosis
I have gone mad cooped up in four white walls for the modern look.
I walk for a breath of fresh air like the studies say should help
But a highway cuts me off before I can get an inch off my driveway
4.
I would say I’m drowning in glass and steel
But the irony is by 2050 nearly half of the global population could live in water scarcity
So parched I must swallow aluminum to coat my stomach in steel to take the governments punch
Let it weld my throat shut
I am drowning in my blood and spinal fluid because that is all I have left
5.
A politician, walks down the streets of Vegas
Littered in the bodies of its prey
The 99%
Swept behind your flashy buildings
And calls it progress.
A step forward.
Reflection
I found the term ‘concrete jungle’ an oxymoron. This poem stemmed off the ideas of what makes a ‘jungle’ and if big cities have the right to call themselves so. How do we call this thing which overtakes the jungle's habitats and harms its resources, a jungle as well? Well I write this to name the terminology unjust. I was inspired to take a slice of life, a walk down the city, and peel back the layers. The effects of things we accept as daily life are actually severe. Writing this piece and expression in general always brings a sense of relief, especially in political contexts. I feel satisfied that I’ve done something that feels like making a real change, especially as a young person it's easy to feel helpless and out of control in the political climate. I learned so much off this prompt as it encouraged me to read articles on under discussed topics, all the statistics listed were facts I had not known until seeking them out to further my writing. I hope everyone reading this keeps learning and knows, someone is always ready to listen to your voice.