The Detroit Institute Of Arts Poem by Joe Rosochacki

The Detroit Institute Of Arts



How could it be?
The Atrium adorned with a mural by Diego Rivera
I have, along with many, could be losing a friend,
Dismembered, cut into pieces, dismantled
Collections scattered throughout the global end
Why? You may ask?
Detroit is in the process of Bankruptcy.
Getting of the DIA how can this be?
The city has in decline for decades,
The last business prospered downtown was in the mid-‘60’s
During Cavanaugh times, then the race riots occurred in the ’67.
The riots were in black community,
Heat, unemployment, as the tinder
Later sparked by blind pig raid, that started the white flight began toward the suburbs.
From 200,000 to 70,000
Programs like Focus: Hope, started by Fr. Cunningham,
attempted to ease the racial burden, it was a nice mask.
The Honorable Coleman A. Young, what an oxymoron, became mayor.
And Kwame Kilpratrick makes Richard Getting of the DIA how can this be?
Daly from Chicago look like a creampuff
Corruption and cronyism ran amuck
The Detroiters Cassandra and Cossandra, both African-American twins and their stealing, a chain from an Euro-American from the suburbs, and their subsequent defense from Mayor Young issue fortified the issue of segregation
I was performing at the Woodbridge Tavern with my partner, Joe Borkowski.
Two weeks before the incident we played to 200+ people,
After the incident we played to 50 people at best.
How does this tie the art museum you wonder?
The core of DETROIT its base were gone
Along with a car industry that was based on the cars being obsolete,
Cars were only lasted while you paid them off, once you paid them off,
The problems began, transmission, drive train or bumpers falling off, you name it.
The car companies, the BIG THREE, were ill prepared to enter the global market.
Getting of the DIA how can this be?
Personally I, as a student guitarist performing, with glaring red and blue stage lights,
I was playing Ragtime Cowboy Joe on my EPIPHONE Sorrento
- - in the backside theatre at the DIA
Later on I perused the antiquities of King Tut,
The Dead Sea Scrolls, and The Tombs of Sipan
That’s where I saw mummies, Knight’s armor, Rembrandts, Van Goghs, and Monets,
And paintings I couldn’t understand
I saw Egyptian, Roman-Greco, Renaissance sculptures,
- and contemporary sculptures of a sort
—I wouldn’t understand
I wonder what Rodin’s Thinker is thinking
- about as he ponders the traffic on Woodward Ave.
My partner, Joe Borkowski, and I were blessed enough
- - to actually perform in Kresge Court
A court that was surrounded European façade faces
A blissful reminder when things were better.
Getting of the DIA how can this be?
I, like many parents, introduced my children to the arts through the DIA.
How many children in the future will not have the chance of peering through the centuries?
Dave Bing is mayor now; will he drop the ball or do a lay up to score a points for the homecourt?
Getting of the DIA how can this be?

7-17-13

http: //www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1925897_1925903_1925880,00.html
http: //www.secretsofthefed.com/25-facts-about-the-fall-of-detroit-that-will-leave-you-shaking-your-head/

POET'S NOTES ABOUT THE POEM
Detroit is on the verge of bankruptcy and one the solutions is sell off its art collection.
COMMENTS OF THE POEM
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Joe Rosochacki

Joe Rosochacki

Hamtramck, Michigan
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