Home-torn, untoward Rip-tide, untied ends of progress.
Forget not your Gateway to prisons, Skidrow fountain, Lombard to Burnside joy ride -
Heed your unpresentables: Your urban growth survivors, Under the radar, Fist fight drop outs;
Whether their bandanas Are red or blue
These hide-out stepdowns, So-called outer zip code Ingrowns -
There's no new to they and you No one is fooled Who's watching.
I see you Rebirthing ghettos, Exporting mischief Locking down on Squeezing out In Mississippi, Interstate; To Foster, sieve to Rockwood See you slide a pawn, Omit a face Lay waste to suburbs.
These rivals on Division Who's guns keep us awake With thunder through the night Were strange to my eyes fifteen years ago When I first witnessed their bring chains From a sidewalk of Alberta But you can't remember, Can't acknowledge blame, amnesia city,
Eyes closed calling itself blind, City Once segregated by race and Now by race and class City reinvented for the camera, Living for the accolades, Loving to scorn convention Scorning to see impoverishment Unprepared for wars Currently occurring all along Your scalloped edges, Brewing into riot by the hour Foaming at the mouth to desecrate you -
Townhouse minded, Art show centered, Effervescent sunset, Literate, mindful, Utterly unitiated
To my City of Roses, regarding your thorns: They are people. They are not disturbances. They are split from your nightmares, Encroaching on day And I have seen you notice them.
I have seen you pull the bullets From a tiny heart and pray That there might be some mercy.
But you recovered your demeanor Continued to worship gods of beer and wine Transplant enthusiasm, Continued to cultivate your Beautifully petaled gardens, Allowing them to be photographed Only from the top.
Stems hidden.
Unpleasant truths Forgot.
~CRH August 2012 Note: Feel free to share my work but please use my name if you do.