I've been feeling pretty angsty about where I live lately...

WHERE LAME DOGS GO TO DIE

Edmonton
is where people go
when they give up
on where they came from.
In a province where politicians
say the wrong thing
at the right time
It's where lame dogs
and falling stars
go to die.

In Edmonton
oil and blood are the same
our engines as tense
as our shoulders
they run as rough
as our language
and spew just as much
blue poison

This is where dogs go
to die
The dirty streets
slip and roll under brown snow
stained with bad tune-ups
and random acts of violence
and nothing
is colourful anymore
but the trash

The good ones get out young

we plow through icy fields
of reticence
with unrequited innocence
wait for bodies to break down
like old pickup trucks
spend our fortunes
on greasy black vices
this is where lame dogs
and falling stars
go to die.