3 blocks west 1 block north

three blocks west one block north
spent most of my time at 8 and Mound
lived there from age seven to sixteen
walked and rode my bike all over
middle school was almost to 10 and Ryan
high school 3/4 of a mile south of that.
detentions and sports kept me after
would walk home even in winter
always seemed so desolate
only God's forsaken out walking
rust buckets lumbering by inches away
in a mad rush to escape Detroit.
mile roads from 8 to 10
half-mile streets along the way
Toepfer, Stephens and Frazho
Dequindre on the west
snuggled up to Hazel Park/Oakland County
and 8 mile to our south.
sleepy post-war brick neighborhoods
to tri-levels built in the sixties
and five or six trailer parks
can never quite remember how many
this is where i lived, this is where i grew up
so many memories, good and bad.
i went all over with friendsor went biking by myself
to the far reaches of our district
just to our east we had factories
cutting us off from the rest of Warren
state's third largest city,
that we called home.
i wandered during frozen nights
running from my parents, running from myself
strolled home slowly on summer days
exhausted from football, drinking a Big Gulp
wanting to escape wanting to go
out beyond the suburbs to somewhere else.
my cousins and everyone's cousins
living large to the west and north
big fancy houses with too much room
driving hand-me-down muscle cars
ones that didn't belch out smoke
and rattle as they crawled down the street.
we had that Detroit lean, didn't even know
or always walked in the street
where we could, when we could
us and our feathered hair-dos
just out of reach of the mainstream
fighting off progress and MTV.
land of the forgotten
the armpit of the world
a northern suburb of the Big D
and to the south was a different world
city was predominantly black
but we avoided it like the plague.
so many of our parents had long ago escaped
left the rottting city to whoever stayed behind
decades beyond glory years of Motown
crumbling mansions along Outer Drive
wasted usless lifeless buildings down Woodward
danger on every corner, waiting for another riot.
xenophobes, idiots and racists abound
if you're not like them, didn't want you around
but sometimes i see them in me
growing up there with no role models
feeling stuck out from all the rest
just wanted to belong like everyone else.
i miss the long endless summer days
killing time hanging out at someone's house
oversized backyards chock full of green
sun blazing down upon cracked concrete
riding and running all day long
until twilight eventually chased us home.