I am a New Yorker.

I was born from chips of shattered cement,

My birth certificate written into freshly laid pavement.

I am dressed in the memories of my neighbors' hardships

And all those who came before me,

Wearing the dust of construction like perfume,

Alluring all who cross my path with the scent of a work in progress-

Like my city's skyline,

I am always on the rise.

I am an ambulance siren among cricket song,

Hands never reach out to greet me here but to cover the ears

Of those who can't handle the blunt honesty

That simply saves us time in New York.

I am spoiled by the intellect of my city,

Baffled when I stumble across minds I assume think like me

When in reality

They have never thought before at all.

I suffer from a lack-of-culture shock,

Discomforted by the discomfort on passing faces

Of people who have never stepped beyond their own ubiquity,

Of people who have never thought beyond white picket fences,

Of people who question how things can be different

When all they have ever known was the same.

I am a New Yorker.

I am openminded and independent,

Resilient as the stones that construct the buildings here,

Still carrying the fingerprints of the men who erected them centuries ago.

I am disgusted in the face of ignorance,

And bold enough to say that to his face.

I come from a city that knocks down walls even when they may not necessarily be old,

Be broken,

Be chipped

Or unstable,

But upon the simple notion that something better can replace it,

And I am spun into motion.

I am a New Yorker,

And like a plague of gentrification I will upset these well-established towns

With new prospects and ideas that, if not shatter your intimacy,

Will at least plant a seed of thought

To sprout a tree whose roots rupture your sidewalks and roads

And thwart any passage without a need to look around first.

I am a New Yorker,

And when I am finished paving over the past with the future,

I will have no hesitation to sign my name into the wet cement;

And when the dust coats your nose and all you smell is my perfume,

Think of me,

Of all who came before me,

And you can thank us later.

I am a New Yorker,

And it is nice to meet you.