Love Poem For Poor Michigan Poem by Lora Cooley

Watch the cold and hazy blue at the edge of town
I've been thinking that last snowfall left splinters
And I'm tired of thee feeling here
It's too jobless year round
It's not the city, streets, or buildings
All of the reasons I want to leave are made of flesh and bone
I've been thinking I should hit the highway and don't turn back
Head for a brand new life, wave goodbye in the rear-view mirror
I can see it clearer in the headlights
People restless glowing like beacons in the sea
Have you ever watched the cold and hazy blue? There's an airport there
Out on the edge of town
A noiseless chorus blows through the leaves and trees and brins this song that keeps changing just when you start to get it
We start to trust we'll find a way to keep the rust at bay, find a hum to help muffle the past
Like lightening underwater
To a Desperate City,
When will we build up, stop breaking down, and boarding up this town?
Have all the youthful dreams been sunk deep in the river?
Left to be tangles up in weeds
Stumbling drunk down your streets?
Or making plans to leave? I need to leave
I can't bury the past
Just need a change of scenery
I will hold these old streets in my head
This plague of joblessness
a temporary illness
Hope for better things though you may not ever get them
I need to leave
I will not say goodbye, this isn't the end
So, until I return,
Love
Your desperate friend