Have empty
Have full
Pundit prognosticating
Weather tea town, big gulp, whine, or throwback
After work
All a buzz
A bout how well suited politicians
Re-billed a city of denim
Putting out hope
In efface of houses emptied
And streets full
Of potholes
Teeming with orange barrels
And every fuel for Toledo
Ever wandering, “Will we be Jeeped or not?”
For what’s frog town without croaking?
That looming will
We be relegated community?
Wholly Toledo, some kind of perfect zoo
And a world class heart museum
Where boosters must incurably cry out
I think not!
Know!
This is the biggest little town in America
And those a little too full of it
Head for the Hills
As if
They due butter
When you can’t beat the accost of living
Of those in the no
If have full, drink up
If have empty, just wait a round
The Glass City is refillable
I was hoping to win thirst prize with this Toledo poem, as my singular entry into the 2016 annual Poetry and Fiction contest of the Toledo City Paper: Half Full or Half Empty. But, alas, I am truly settle for placement in a category called Dishonorable Mention. This poem, about my beloved Toledo, reflects the self-deprecating, love-hate relationship that many Toledoans have with our esteemed town and occasionally reviled city. The editor only had one question about my seriously playful, pun-filled wordplay: Was “A bout” my intended spelling. As most often is the case when someone is confused about how to read my poems, the answer is: “Yes.” There are many takes on the half-full/half-empty question. I find that the glass being refillable is the most appropriate and truly hopeful answer. I consider Toledo as the hidden gem of the Midwest, perhaps of the whole country. But, please, keep this on the down-low. We don’t want a bunch of Toledo wannabes cluttering up the city.
