By Kevin Coval
i’m here to clear my mind
in pursuit of superheroes
……….the city’s criminalized.
hop wire-cut fences
……….into empty lots
& walk warehouses
……….& industrial parks.
this is how i ground myself.
i follow the writing on the wall.
who are the masked avengers
……….lurking the alleys
………………..beautifying the expressway
……….renovating forgotten storefronts
………………..with fonts on lonely water towers.
letters a story high.
………………..FACTS ROHOE
………………..decorate the interstate
………………..ACHOO
………………..in every corner of New Orleans
in St. Louis, i think of KINK
& the LD Crew
in Detroit PEAR & BEGR
after MSK
painted the city back to life
in factories they were supposed to work in.
the children write epitaphs on the machinery that claimed their parents
in El Paso i walked for hours alone
along paused railcars to see how permeable
& ridiculous borders are. how ingenious
codes of the marginalized develop to circumnavigate
gates & walls, to communicate & infuriate ice agents & despots.
……….who knows the land better than writers
that west of cicero
all the way local towards hinsdale
……….the salt factory
……….has become a greenhouse
……….a pasture of daffodils
……….& sunflowers ■
Kevin Coval is an Emmy-nominated, award-winning poet and author of Everything Must Go: The Life & Death of an American Neighborhood, A People’s History of Chicago & ten other collections & anthologies. He’s the Creative Director and a founding editor of The BreakBeat Poets imprint on Haymarket Books.
Cover image by Jess (creative commons).
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