from "NorthEast"

'Detroit, Half-mast'

Detroit, half-mast.
It's better than this.
The citizens know,
but its neighbors have given up.
Its heartbeat was lost to something cheaper.
Now all the ornaments -
that don the names of those who
caused its heart to beat -
stand tall
and abandoned.
Yankee Doodle plays in forgotten Detroit
on the outskirts of city-proper
where buildings long ago burned.
Foundations sag in the shifted earth,
houses split apart.
Families sit on the cracked steps
of their front porches
as their children play through
the streets
where grass grows wild.