ramble & roam, never a home

i left minneapolis right when it started getting cool.

i grew up in portland before anyone knew it would be; 

but no amount of vegan bakeries, coffee shops, and breweries 

will ever bring it back. it will never feel like home again.

now nowhere i go does.

my grievances, they are still small compared to others';

though my sense of home is shattered, 

i still have places to go when i need to move on, 

other cities that haven't gotten too expensive yet.

places with jobs and housing and art and music that i like

places like cincinnati.

but i'm not fooling myself

because i know that i'm the beginning of a transformation, 

a fast-approaching tidal wave

just like the ones i saw hit and crash and engulf and drown

the great metropolises of portland and minneapolis.

i am the thing i now resent.

i'm the newcomer who will contribute 

to the disfiguration of someone else's home

and they will become just like me:

lost at sea in a country of cities 

all becoming identical, headed for the same demise.

Author's Note

anything goes