Driving Down Beecher Street

[Adrian, Michigan]

the prison looks unusually bright today;
perhaps the grey of the sky
makes the red brick seem much more brighter
than the barbed wire and concrete walls

the old Dyra plant
is something else now -
Aunt Gloria used to work there
like so many other boys' aunts

and like so many other boys' aunts
Aunt Gloria was laid off
like Dad was all last year
that old plant

where Uncle Johnny used to work
is called something else now
he claimed it was retirement
but the pink slip called it something else

over the train tracks
(that made me late for school so many times)
there's that tacky pink store
that Tia Janie's neighbors bought

years ago - it's now neon pink
(almost as bright as the prison)
they named it after their daughter
like Comstock did 160 years ago

signs in Spanish shock passers-by
i still can't read them

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