Back when my pleated skirt didn’t match the other girls

when they rolled theirs up and I kept mine down, 

I thought the city was the four blocks which I walked everyday to school

Back when I shot spit balls at Ryan in the local hot dog place 

only later finding out he had already found a girl worth crying over

I thought the city was the local gym where basketball reigned supreme

Back when I began high school with kids whom had never known

the north side of the city before, which was all I had seen

I found out the city was a lot more than being picked on in grade school

I found out that the city was racism, was culture, was expression

In so many forms, varieties, and changes happened everyday

It wasn’t until I shed my angry teenage skin 

that I could finally see this immense, towering city

And the numerous worlds which lay within