Poems by Blue - 3. On Being Californian

On Being Californian

Where are you from
We are asked
We talk in a circle
Telling stories of boat rides
Diasporas, and Migrant trails
The brown girl claims
French Ancestery
One boy names pioneering forefathers
Other fantastic tales
are told
Some believable, Some not
And finally, we get to me

"My family is from Los Angeles"
I say. "No, where are your people from?"
"Los Angeles"
"No one is REALLY from LA."
"Yeah, what part of Mexico
Did your parents migrate from?"
"I come from the part of Mexico
On which Los Angeles was built.
California was Mexico and Spain
Long before it was a state
And my family has lived in LA
Before the city was built."

But I see they don't believe me,
So I say that I am French.