life in Smallville

a few concrete miles
surrounded by a sea of sagebrush
and varied farms,
a vast algaed lake
patrolled by crass working class men
harvesting algae to sell
as high class nutritional wonder supplements

There's 300 churches and two theatres
where amateur lawyers and barbers
pretend to be Sherlock Holmes,
Romeo or Juliet or Othello

Most streets are safe enough at night
but only by way of frontier justice
as the meth craze has seized hundreds
who slowly lose their teeth and their minds

The men go to work in the factory
making profitable doors and windows
and the school-board wives water their lawns
in knee-high dresses,
and in the corners the wildflowers grow
in regal and anarchic displays of purple