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For Columbus, Ohio after Buddy Wakefield's 'My Town'
My town is sharp like an unlucky windshield
like corn stalks before the harvest my town is corn stalk people
that are scared of harvesting tools where the rotating blades look like
the sinister grin of a tyrant the sky is beaten boy black
and the rain will sting like its clouds birthed needles
before it attempts to grow you there are no guarantees it will grow you
my town is sharp like unwarranted compliments sharp like honesty for lepers
its no fun when things begin to fall apart she wants to tell him about the lemmings
that fall apart from these Jurassic falls where they followed a leader
that was just following another leader that was led to the cliff edge by another
leader
my town is full of leaderless lemmings elbow bruises and dustless gun racks
10 miles outside of the city my town is black eyed beauty queen
a sultry red dress tucked into the folds of bloody vaginal wall
where we teach 19 year old athletes that ***
are severance pay for the chance
to turn their knee into shrapnel to raise the price on box seats
my town is not big fish small pond my town is cloned fish small ocean
it is fishing with dynamite if the fish had appetites to swallow the big
*** themselves
we've developed a talent for placing return postage on our compliments
writing thank yous across the belly's of our mirrors
when we wipe its surface clean we can still feel the letters faintly upon
our skin its burns
like mommas stare over the rim of her glasses like the truth to untalented singers
my town is on its way to Chicago my town just got back from New York,
I won't be here long
my town thinks progress is a one way greyhound to another city
my town's children got it
better than anybody else but can't wait to stick their
it into another zip code
my town is a rainbow bumper stickered hybrid my town is a march of beautiful men
holding hands tighter than the siding of a spaceship
but my town, is a conservative newspaper that is don't ask don't tell about the same
sex revolutions in the neighborhoods where they print their
headlines there is an overwhelming feeling
of the sand shifting under the buildings that were built great grandparents ago
like pyramids they are fighting the current
like a spider in a shower drain
my town raises kids shaped like bullets
what are the chances your parent is a sharpshooter?
my town is a 'Hell Is Real' billboard every time you leave its borders
where you can see more crosses erected in your rearview mirror
than you can remember resurrections occurring around you
we are fast food and rocket sized cholesterol dirty uncles posing as poets
and colored people only open mics
my town wants you to see how pretty she is under these handmaiden wraps
without telling you without lifting her skirt on stage
without flirting with a razor blade in her teeth
the razor blade isn't hers it was brought here
the here isn't really here any more it was brought here
my town is a two way mirror inside of a funny house
big top carnival that is all elephants and clowns
but help wanted for conductors
it is the most beautiful shadow you've ever seen
a sunset that everybody is an hour late for
my town is asleep my town is still sleeping
and when it wakes up it can't tell the difference