there is
an incomprehensible
juxtaposition
in the cheap
seats at
the coliseum
being
nosebleed
while the elite
sit ringside
and how
it is the same
poor people
living
at ground zero
while the
upper class move
farther away

you can watch
the signs of
progression
in the rings
of the city
the once fancy
neighborhoods
become slums
as cookie cutter
communities of
barely middle
class families
watch the
encroaching
wave of abandonment
occasional
new growth as
gentrification
seizes cheap
real estate
then outprices
the preexisting
community

i drive all day
an amateur archeologist
scanning the strata
a poor historian
unable to perform
the basic tenets
of learning
or facing repetition
a silent malcontent
logging loops
thinking thoughts
i should likely
keep to myself
rather than eulogize
the american dream