Evolution of the Middle West

The core of the continent
after a hundred years of explosive growth
when entrepreneurial Europeans
bought off the native people
with glass beads and Bay blankets
is dying-off like old star.

Where once energetic pioneers
surveyed the windswept plains
huddled near the fire
in rustic sod huts
and languished in the humidity
of their vibrant young cities
today they wander off west
to the new capitals of capital.

Oh, how we bemoan our fate!
Mystified we beat the bushes
looking for a solution
to the ennui and economic despair
that teaches our young and educated
to fly away.

“We can be great again”
the optimists opine
the right mix of policy and publicity
can recapture the spirited energy
that made our cities the envy of the world
in the year 1908
just build some bus lanes
and turn empty warehouses
into condos
all will be well again.

But wide open skies
and clean water
are not the draws they once were
prosperity depends on how much bacon
one brings home,
in today’s world
the workers are not tied to agriculture
or the modest industries of the middle-west.

The big cities capture excitement
romance and adventure
like ours once did
they have mountains, money
and movie stars
we have winter, urban decay
and entire neighborhoods
full of dismal poverty.

Let your children go
into that brave New West
ours is a land of opportunity spent
where our very existence
depends on generous payments
from the national coffers
like a once glorious sub-Saharan state
our wealth has dried up and withered
there are not enough natural reasons
to fuel future growth,
let it be so.