L.A. Prayer

By Francisco X. Alarcón

April 1992

something
was wrong                  
when buses                
didn't come                
 
streets                          
were                              
no longer                    
streets                          
 
how easy                      
hands                          
became                        
weapons                      
 
blows                            
gunfire                        
rupturing                    
the night                    
 
the more
we run
the more
we burn
 
o god
show us
the way
lead us
 
spare us
from ever
turning into
walking
 
matches
amidst
so much
gasoline

Copyright Credit: Francisco X. Alarcon, "L.A. Prayer" from From the Other Side of Night/Del otro lado de la noche: New and Selected Poems. Copyright © 2002 by Francisco X. Alarcon.  Reprinted by permission of University of Arizona Press.
Source: From the Other Side of Night/Del otro lado de la noche: New and Selected Poems. (University of Arizona Press, 2002)