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# Letter: ‘Ode to the future of my city’
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/letter-ode-to-the-future-of-my-city/
- Published: 2013-08-14T02:01:44.000Z
- Updated: 2024-12-03T21:26:44.000Z
- Author: Daniel Archuleta
- Tags: Letters, Opinion, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2025-11-06 13:37

![letter art](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/smdp-com/wp-content/uploads/sites/21/2024/07/letter-art-4.jpg)

How sad it is to journey to Santa Monica and I can't find it.

The open blue sky hides behind canyon walls

I look for glimpses of the sun and the sea, but they are also hard to find.

Instead winds tempest through the canyon walls like clothing being torn from a corpse.

I wander the narrow sidewalks as cars move slowly by.

I look at the trees, leafless without sunlight and air — looking old in their age

Nature corrupted by greed

Instead, I'm lost in an ocean of development

The sun caresses then quickly disappears

Traffic comes instead.

I look for the city manager but he has also moved on

The day ends as a curtain of sunlight falls that both hides and reveals.

Feeling defeated, I stretch my legs and turn toward home — feeling lost as my city is lost

As I wander home — how funny I can't find it — like Santa Monica it has also moved on

Ron Goldman

Santa Monica