This was inspired by Giles Li's dope ass poem, "Delaware." After I heard it, I was like damn Giles! Now I got to write a poem about love and title it after a location! I had a gig in Winona a while back - a small city in Minnesota known for Sinclair Lewis, stained glass, and Winona Ryder- who had been busted for stealing shortly before. Anyway, I had some free time before my performance, so I walked around the small town, and - like I always do in small towns- wondered what it would like to grow up there. And then I started thinking about my love life, which is rarely a good thing. Here's the poem that came out of it. At least it's short. Boo hoo. Winona, Minnesota Towns like this always have two Chinese restaurants. If you were here with me, how would we choose between the two without feeling we betrayed the other? Hometown of Winona Ryder, Sinclair Lewis, one porn store- and the antiques outnumber the living. What are the odds that I see a young Asian couple, together they are more beautiful than I could possibly be without you. When I walk here I want this place to be mine, one of the few cities where I don't plant the memories but they grow anyway, on the back of postcards, in the chocolate store I know you would love, in the doubled tourist glances I know we'd get as beautiful foreigners in this snapshot hometown, I want this place to be one of the few cities left on the map where I don't carry you with me, but it's too late. When I drove here, I was scared of my stereo because all the beautiful songs are haunted by slow dances. And these streets are so much bigger than they feel. 2002

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