[Pictures of a Small Town in Missouri]

I can't relate to them Hi how are you, I'm fine how are you? Pleasantries they dull the mind dull the brain. My life is reduced to the question, and then to, I'm fine. I'm always fine and so are you. I act like I care, and sometimes I really do. But I can never remember where you went for dinner last night.

In my hometown I stand out like a sore thumb when I am in the city I am just another nameless face. Hi Abercrombie are you really from SoCal? My hair is blonde but yours is blonder. My brother loves my hometown but I have no hometown pride. Church dinners blue ladies cook and everyone is everyone's best friend. All I want to do is hide and I don't know them.

I walk past all the neat little yards each blade of grass standing firmly in place. Vote yes, vote no the picket signs say. I stopped knowing if there was a yes or no when is right and when is wrong. My father always knows who he will vote for.

In church my sisters pray eyes shut hands folded. I listen to the music and I feel my mouth moving. Jesus did you really walk on water? Man wrote of you so long ago.

In my hometown everyone noticed and everyone cared Did you hear can you believe it? But my world ceases to notice anymore. Big glasses tight pants long hair plaid shirt. They drive little cars we always drove big trucks. The oak tree by my house still has some leaves on it but some flew on the wind.

[Facing my American Dream]

I have joined the ranks of the lost,
the lost souls,
the souls that have fallen from their place,
searching for meaning in a world devoid.

I should have wandered without becoming lost.

I have been led on by the promises,
the empty promises,
promises of success, of achievement, of love
creating a ghost of my American dream.

I should have known which was glitter, which gold.

I have ceased to have that dream,
the beautiful dream,
the dream that inspired,
shaping my future and feeding off my ambition.

I should have numbered the stars.

I have joined the ranks of the lost,
a lost child, with forgotten aspirations.
A child whose dream has fled
with the crawling of days in the passage of time.

I should have been a pair of ragged claws…