"Through and Through"

Fermi caughed and blew progressive science into a new day.
shattering block after block west to Cicero and east to Twelfth Street Beach

A cold wind blew down Wall Street, whistling through Madison Avenue, Times Square
shattering trees freezing ponds and  shivering the transient of Central Park

A steel smell of motin' iron, screeching through Deep Ellum, Highland Park rusting,
shattering the heat of North Texas dixiecratic, aristocratic pretense into a heap of ash pulp.

A blanket wrapped warm 'round my body, as my Illinois grandfather's voice
shattering the winter shadows wraps warm around my imagination

It was told a city built up by my ancestors not supposed a legacy to leave
shattering doubter's opinions that it was just a lakeside swamp.

A cold wind blew off of the Lake they call Michigan into my soul
feeling it with brass strenght of pride to my family connection with a city so surly.

A cold wind blew around the top of the Hancock over Sears into the legs of the red and black
shattering the hopes of their orange and blue adversaries from Manhattan that early June night

A cold wind blew out of my soul, as I bodly walked down Dallas streets with head held high
shattering judgements maybe rendered by the  unseen eyes of Highland Park's pretensious

A cold wind will one day blow out of my unborn child's cries
reminding him of a legacy left behind by generations of those before

Their mind will recall how they said it was worthless land
shattering the concept that nothing is out of reach

Head and shoulders above it all, it's snow effect lightening, frightened New York-froze Dallas
shattering their foundation in a thunderous roar

A cold wind carried our flight aloft, north that memorial day weekend two years back,
shedding a tear in memory of my late grandfather, as we landed a sweet breeze told me welcome home-your in Chicago!

*This is a poem about my dad's family's origins in Illinois after they came over from Britain via Virginia, North Carolina and Kentucky.  Finally, settling in southwest Illinois they became a prominent family in the state.  Along with other frontier families they helped build up half the state. There was a city, fort "something or the other"-I forgot the name, that was proposed as the next great city of the midwest.  There was another area not yet a fully incorporated city on swampland next to Lake Michigan that families tried to develop.  My family, along with others, tried to develop this area and soon became the scorn and mockery of the families promoting fort "such and such."  We'll  "such and such" never came to fruition and does not exist as the other area became known as Chicago.  This is a source of pride for me.  There are references about the buildings in Chicago as well as about my favorite pro basketball team the Bulls and their rivalry with the New York Knicks representative of a rival city to Chicago.  Yes New York has their fashion and media.  So does Dallas as these are two cities I chose that are polar opposites in personality to Chicago that would make great antagonists in this work.  But make no mistake no city has the masculinity, the grit or the "toughness" as this amazing city. I feel that no city can capture my soul than it.  Each time I visit I swell with pride.  The moral of the story is next time someone mocks your attempts at greatness, just remember you never know where your paths will lead.  A "cold wind" may blow helping you seize the day!

JCB