Pontiac

BARRETT CREATIVE WRITING WINNER 2012, FIRST PLACE

Hello Chief
It’s been many moons
Let me get my Mickey’s and some smokes
We’ll take a walk down Saginaw
Just like the old days
Catch some downtown wind funnels
On the way to the bank
Maybe stop at the pub
Have dranks with the judge
The muse is so thick
I can cut that bad boy
Wish I had my back pack
So I could stuff it full—ya know?
Man
You used to be all urban
Now you’re all industrial
We morph like that
I look up at your sky
A tunnel vision of architecture
Beautiful-stoic grey
Dotted by gray pigeons
The people on the streets
I still know them
I think
They are morphed like us
I know
Brothers and sisters—eerily
Frozen in time
You nourish me with that
I know I’m walking with you
In my dreams now, Chief
Next time it’s for real