in this city of white limestone and white marble

and white limousines and white crosswalks and white men,

there is an abundance of color:

a laughingstock of tastes, and riches, and glitter.

my babylon of sexuality, tower of languages,

opulent urbanity bedecked in lies and filth and poverty,

and a street for every ethnicity

and a block for every nationality.

my sodom, my zoar, my destination and my journey,

this city of monuments to old dead men

and young dead men and, occasionally, to women;

this city of remembering history,

of commemorating naturalism and politicism,

this city will not remember me, when i'm gone.

gregarious urbanity reaches grubby hands

to my idle hands, the playground of my mind,

offering encouragement, overdose,

an allowance is made for me:

a place to house my fears and foes and fate,

a place to love hard, a place to die young.