(If you knew my town it might be easier to appreciate, but I still need advice on stanzas, word choice, etc.)
My Town
My town is
big enough for the both of us.
And small enough for me to
run into you at that little coffee shop
on Goodwin.
In my town
it takes 20 minutes to get anywhere
just because of the construction and
it's always there because
my town is always growing and changing.
In my town,
if someone says the Station
you know they mean the theatre.
If someone says the Echo
you know they mean the paper.
If someone says Granger
you know they mean the library.
Stone Creek means rich
Scottswood means poor
Green Street means shopping
or eating at a chain restaurant.
On campus means coffee
or live music
or partying.
And if you say St. Jo,
you're probably only talking about
the school.
It takes two cities
to take in my town
with all its cornfields:
we have more corn than
Pennsylvania, you know.
More dialects, too.
We switch dialects every five minutes.
We talk like a Texan to neighbors,
like a Canadian to elders,
like a Californian to best friends.
In my town,
we eat barbeque and tofu.
We know what the inside of a barn
looks like
and also
the inside of an art museum.
We're simply complex.
We're culturally spontaneous.
We're the nicest people you'll ever meet.
