National Poetry Writing Month - April 27, 2014

I heard a reading of Carl Sandburg's "Chicago" and it was amazing on a couple of levels. First, it's a brilliant piece of literary art. You can hear what I heard on Soundcloud. Second, it's about what I consider the most impressive and amazing city in the entire country. And it made me think about my own little hometown in Kansas where I grew up. So this is about the city where I was born and raised and lived for the first 18 years of my life.

In Praise of T-Town

Grass and trees bend to the breeze

Blowing across the prairie and into the cities

No mountains to stop it from whipping the hair

From your face and the hat from your head

My home was not on the range

A modest little one story story on the southwest side

Of a city that by comparison to others

Can barely be called a city

It was my whole world for my beginning life

I knew every nook and cranny of the park

Could ride a bike from one neighborhood to another

And never be on a main street

Friends lived within walking distance of me

Our families knew each other and there was trust

That if you were bad at their house

You'd be in trouble at yours

Growing up we were shielded from the horrors

Of big city life. No real crime or poverty

On our side of the city

That was a northerly problem, and more so outside of us

The more I looked around

The city where I was at, the more I realized

That there was more to be seen outside

Of it's small town limits

1991 - war divided my high school along it's lines

Hawks and doves swooped through the campus

You were either for the soldiers and their mission

Or you were against. There was no middle

I knew then that I had to get out

I knew then that I was going to leave this smallish place

And never return to live again

Not ever

By the time I was 18, I had already enlisted

My fate was set with Uncle Sam and his ilk

13 weeks there, and the remainder of 4 year

Solidified my decision as the right one

I have been back only a few times since leaving

There is a slight sense of nostalgia

But no burning desire to return and stay

My place is now outside of that place. Forever