Andrew Collard

Universal Mall

(Warren, MI)    

loser of the space race / suburban      moon age fumble / once

you dreamed / and you were dream /

dead mall / your claw cranes

gone / the ghostbox gone / wings balled and wrecked / 

    cruel hotrods

you once hosted /      dispersing happy shoppers like a plague

unto the hypermarkets / cruel gods      whose dollars ate you clean /

will not return /          

              and weren’t you Doo Wop / weren’t you neon /

atomic in intent /

    the Preservation League has failed you / your decline

is now complete / O divvied city / crowd of selves / 

land scooped by

a megachurch / a retail park / Del Taco / ____________ /

           embodied still /                   House of the Future / brother storm /

what lays foundations never leaves /

you’ve become a tool / to dislocate the faithful /

unwitting /   

      wake up friend / wake easy / it’s already tomorrow /

you’ve been carried like a seed / like voices from the sidewalk 

you’ve become alive /          and loosed /       

     no more defective memories 

or market forces / lip service / label scarring / here  

the life of light / has yet to be decoded / 

                                                                 friend / you’ve been released