springfieldpoem # 7
ah spfld spfld for several
weeks now I’ve been in minneapolis and while bike-auto ratio
isn’t even there are still more bikes than you can shake a spoke at
but I want to talk about the buildings great and small their sides backs
fronts
so many are painted primitive art traditional art sophisticated
art folk psychedelic symbolic trompe l’oeil you name it one
designating the
tuscan cafe within another advocating life some with
neat perspective some madness amok one
a whole page of mozart score but
color color color all over there’s a mosaic folk go out of their way
to see and a man’s front yard jammed with artistic
junkheap coils
and storecases with things in them armless rubber dolls and daily changing
signs deploring racism the number of iraqi dead the mounting
trillions people drive by there too color life caring it makes your heart
sing your
heart weep ah springfield why are we so drab we destroy a
mural and the vachel lindsay one on the square downtown is so pale so
hidden that I seldom notice even when I ride by on my bike
© Jacqueline Jackson 2008
This article appears in Oct 2-8, 2008.
