Detroit

AFTER DETROIT 

“In these explanations 
it is presumed that an 
experiencing subject
is one occasion of a 
sensitive reaction to 
an actual world.”
—George Oppen

the smog disappears
that had been polluting
the world that Ford made

They were sleek objects
Of steel and flashing chrome
And of speed. They made
The highways crisscross 
The country coast to coast.

Jobs bloomed
They gathered in unions
And spoke, the working class
They weren’t incredulous,
They built things that worked

They were patient
With the world Detroit created
This would never last forever
Not until reaching its limits

They would begin again 
over, that is, over and over

Detroit

IF DETROIT WENT UP IN SMOKE
—for George Oppen

that smoke
would stay inside me

the toke forever
the savage city’s light 

light of the cityscape 
Detroit stylish praise

from one revolution
to another failed one

this is how surrealism
seeks strange resources

neither in word
nor meaning but in style

style haunts modern self
steel and concrete 

we are the skyscrapers
Detroit our experiment

let the stones speak
they always help us grow

we are people of the glass
we touch the distances

beyond pound and olson—
we use spicer instead

on a porch like eigner—
single fingering the typewriter

touching one key at a time—
taking his own time 

the distances the poem
begins

Detroit

DYING DETROIT
—for Barrett Watten

I

Detroit is dying
Poets demand limits

 II

Poets are tragedy queens 
Drearie dearie diarists

III

Detroit is a Dead Duck
The poets flee

VII

Detroit was the Big Three
It stood for Style

VIII

Worn out Theaters perish
Moonlight in the ruins

XVIII

Detroit ceases to exist
Design has lost its touch

XX

Dead cities lose information
Everyday words get lost

XXI

Detroit was an accident
Waiting to happen

XXII

A single style isn’t revolution
Even Cadillacs go outta style

XXIV

Henry Ford was a genuine 
Greedy Asshole Genius

XXV

Detroit buries its dead
Technology six feet under

XXVI

Technology was a church
But the choir flew the coop

 XXIX

Narrative leads to death
Readers are slave laborers

XXX

Parataxis prepares the way
Coincidence runs parallel

XXXI

The Big Three a false motif
Once it ruled Detroit USA

XXXII

Decay motivates construction
Intuition reconstructs itself again

XXXIII

The Boot on the Face
A New World Order style

XXXVI

Technology is falling apart
Just like the movie “Brazil”

XXVII

Technology in getting better
Just like the movie ”1984”

XXXVIII

Third Worlds are convincing
Just look at the ghost malls

XXXIX

Series stick to the Unexpected
Storylines synch in a chain

XLII

Style sinks into the sewer
The Third Man lives down there

XLIII

All the movie palaces vanish
All the classic hotels disappear

XLIV

Cadillacs used to be classy
Lincolns used to be Jacqueline

XLV

Indifference takes over
Ennui becomes lifestyle

XLVI

Progress loses perspective
Detroit becomes a relic

 XLVII

There are no Cities left
There’s No Escape From Detroit

XLVIII

Guttenberg breaks down
Print culture swansong

XLIX

Old narratives become static
Neo Narratives go Surréalisme

L

Writers try to disappear
But language won’t let them

Detroit

The Michigan Theater Detroit

DETROIT DENOUEMENT

“We are locked out:

like children, seeking love”

—George Oppen

“Image of the Engine”

New Collected Poems

This was once our world

In our hearts. The lobby, balcony

We are locked out: like children,

Once seeking love in the movies

Now all we have is each other.

With our strength all gone now

The young search elsewhere

Detroit is a dying symbol

Even our beautiful bony children

Have gone in the morning and left  

Detroit a squalid toy in the trash

Michigan Theater

The Michigan Theater Staircase Detroit

THE MICHIGAN THEATER

“Endlessly, endlessly,
The definition of mortality
The image of the engine”
—George Oppen
“Image of the Engine”
New Collected Poems

The engine of images
It stops.
We cannot live without it.
I know that I can’t live without it.
Designed by architects C. W. Rapp 
and George Rapp of Chicago
the Michigan opening in 1925

Eighty-eight years later and
Its world is ending   
With his death..
The movie machine stares out,
Stares out
With all its eyes

Thru the glass
With the ripple in it, down the stairs
Which are dusty—The Michigan had a 
French Renaissance style known
"Rapp and Rapp Versailles"

Is there is someone
In the balcony?
Inside, once so beautiful.

Detroit

Michigan Theater Detroit

ENGINE OF IMAGES

“And every crevice of the city leaking
Rubble: concrete, conduit, pipe, a crumbling
Rubble of our roots”
—George Oppen
“Image of the Engine”
New Collected Poems

Which is the grainy death of movies. The lost
Glitter of the theaters!   
The endless Hollywood movies!
Seen in all the classic film palaces
And every crevice of the city leaking
Ruins: cinema, balconies, films, crumbling
Rubble of our imagination

Drearie Dearie

DREARIE DEARIE
—for Mildred Pierce

“DING DONG!!!” goes the doorbell—
“It’s Drearie Dearie!” I exclaim

Every party needs one—
Especially on New Years Eve
______________

So in Miss Thing swishes—
The poor drearie old thing

The party grows hushed—
And the lights grow dull
______________

And there she is, my dear—
The dreariest dearie of them all

The champagne grows flat—
Losing all its bubbly fizzy
______________

The music goes dead—
From Jazz to drearie Dirge

She looks around the room—
Sizing up all us Sisters
______________

She’s in her usual—
Bette Davis Diva mood

“What a fucking dump!”—
She says with a smirk
______________

Waving her cigarette—
In tight little circles

She doesn’t have time—
To read everybody’s beads
______________

So she just says—
Fasten your seat-belts

It’s gonna be a bumpy—
Ride tonight, my dears
______________

“Happy New Year!”—
Somebody dares to say

“What’s good about it?”—
Drearie Dearie replies
______________

“2012 was a Drag—
A real Bummer, my dears”

We all look aghast—
Drearie Dearie just shrugs
______________

We all nod solemnly—
Especially the Bull Dykes

They’re even drearier than—
Drearie Dearie most of the time
______________

“People never really change”—
Drearie Dearie opines aloofly

“They just get worse”—
She says so very bitchily 
______________

I gulp down my cocktail—
Choking on the fat olive

The cute Go-Go Boys—
Way above in their cages
______________

Keep dancing madly—
Oblivious to the Panic

A gay Stampede—
Of Kitschy Queens
______________

All heading for the—
Closest Club Exit 

Along with me and—
Just about everybody else
______________

I simply can’t Stand—
Depressing Miss Drearie Dearie

Not for a second longer—
And neither can they!!!