#merika!

Part 1

Thru blind birth luck I live in Indiana Frozen crossroads of the American conundrum Under the legalized gusts Of steel mill exhausts Where the mercury-laced waters Of Lake Michigan lap in the north Where vinyl nightmare houses replace Crops in fields Where boys spend summers pissing from trees In Dinosaur Ditch Where grandma’s iron kitchen skillet First received its golden commandment from heaven Where daddy walked the brief brawling streets Of youth Where Mrs. Burton offered phantom treats From Halloween tray of neighborhood lore Where Mr. Berkley sat with coke plant Emphysema cough Where Red Cunningham lost his arm to the Alligator machinery of industry Where summer lasts for two hours in July Then returns to comforting gray chilled skies Where Tina was snuffed out at 19 Stabbed and discarded like a sack of trash Still no suspects in sight Where teens crack garage doors to vent Afternoon bong coughs Where there is a church and a bar on Every corner espousing liquid heaven escape Where I often think of myself blessed and trapped Third generation familiar with the sounds of these bleeding Streets its inhabitants visions dreams changes Bursting with a tragic Fragile and hopeful rebirth

©Tim Murray is a lifelong resident of Northwest Indiana. He hosted the Red Fez blogtalk radio show from 2010-2012 and The Tim Murray Variety Show on Project U Radio Network. He was nominated for a Pushcart Prize by NightBallet Press for his poem “Certified Outlaw”. His e-chap What I Did Monday is available for free download from Ten Pages Press. His chapbook Dinosaur Ditch was published by Citizens for Decent Literature Press. He is currently an editor for Blotterature Literary Magazine.