run down vehicles line the streets
oldsmobiles
volkswagens
kias
saturns
even a citroën sits in front of dr. grey's house
but ever since he's been out of work
there was no reason for him to keep up with it.
i walk down past a dying maple and kick a can that rolls in my path
it bounces down the alleyway
and ricochets off a dustbin
a cat screams in the distance
and i pull my jacket around myself, tightly
the whole area feels cold
someone coughs around a corner
and i turn to look at him
his blue eyes are sad
and his unkempt grey hair falls around his unshaven face
"can you spare some change?"
i reach into my pocket and pull out the few quarters i had been saving for laundry
he needs them more than i do
in my head i hear lyrics
//the rooms have a hint of asbestos and maybe
just a dash of formaldehyde//
even my high school fought with asbestos
when did this world become so wrong?
as i pass the out of work professor, i nod to him weakly
he knows i mean well
but his face doesn't show much compassion
perhaps it is because he survives on his wife's income
waiting tables at new beginnings in kentwood
because teaching jobs don't exist here anymore
i look at the bum, the professor, the cars, the children playing in the abandoned road
and i think to myself
//michigan seems like a dream to me now.//
Author notes
1. i used your picture. i hope this is what you meant. i did describe it, but in a sense that is linked to how it makes me feel. the connection is all there.
the lyrics used are from "build god, then we'll talk" by panic at the disco and "america" by paul simon.
5. at the same time this is political in that i'm talking about the job situation in my home town in michigan. there are so many people who are out of work because we used to be a manufacturing city that has now moved to outsourcing. i hope that comes through plainly enough.
regardless, this is a really interesting contest and i hope you get many well-written entries.
A contest entry
- Lots of Options. Free verse. What more do you need? by Deviant Dreamer.
450 points, ended October 25, 2007, 10 entries
Honorable mention
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Please tell me what you think
Comments
-
Thank you for your well wishes. This was actually very close to what I am looking for. Theres a touch of sadness in your poem that I feel a special connection to myself when I look at this picture. It was taken in Chicago a long time ago, but it could very well be any major city in the northern USA. Thank you very much for entering. I greatly enjoyed this piece.
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