My California

This is an assignment from my Poetry class.  The teacher had us write an imitation poem based on Natasha Trethewey’s poem This is Gulfport. An imitation poem just means borrowing some element of the poem, form, wording, content, topic etc.

This is my California
it’s deserts and Death Valley,
gangs and gunshots
echoing from the road’s edge.
Its inhabitants hunkered
against the fear, anchored
by empty bank accounts.
Children named for the dead,
in a crossroads of memory
marked with a white cross
and flowers already crushed.
While candles burn in church houses,
a congregation of mourners
mixed with hearts made of brick
echo a chorus of sorrows.
God knows not the victim.
Sooner or later,
everyone leaves here.