Fleshed out streets of leafy green
Canopies of Midwest nature scenes
Savory flavors of barbeque
Mixed with hidden gems of concrete custard blues
Archway vistas and tourist rides
Crisscrossing highways, bridges and high rise skies
Mississippi shorelines lined with paddleboats
Waterways so large, the appearance of a moat
Old and young – there is poor and rich
A mixed America of both thin and thick
Fat pocket suburbs squeezing the center of the city
Where the pennies are pinched between the antique and the gritty
It’s a glass of bourbon – neat
Sharp on the tongue
But smooth through the belly warming down to the feat

—J.M.