I was found dead; sitting at my desk, eyes open and vacant
in the glow of my computer monitor. A slow strangulation until there was no
heart left. The murder weapon was apparent, it was right there, the local
headlines. Only in Detroit could they figure out how to truly kill a soul with
words.
© M Durfee
6/21/13
This of course is a Friday 55 written for Mr Know it All...properly linked to his blogoramadamadingalong.
mmm i hear you man...def hard to read/see the news and really not feel like giving up...
ReplyDeletewell at least since you posted i know you are not dead...or at least thank you to the one that hit the button to post...smiles.
Brian this one is extremely politically local. As a former municipal worker on a 1k per month pension, due to years of corruption and malfeasance, of course they are trying to wring 20 billion dollars of accumulated Detroit government debt from current and former city employees. I pay for our medical out of that 1k and that may be taken away as well. And the death scene is simply because i have no voice or power in what happens. Once upon a time i could just fix a few extra cars and stay afloat but I do not have that option anymore.
DeleteMark, Flint is the same way.
ReplyDeleteLike yesterday's blurb on Yahoo, rating the Top Five cities in America for Violent crime!
1.) FLINT
2.) Detroit
Those are the kind of words that strangle the life out of you.
It's a downward spiral and I don't know if it will ever stop.
Loved your asphyxiating 55
Thanks for playing, try to keep breathing, and have a Kick Ass Week-End
Yep Galen, the big 3 fucked Flint even worse than they did Detroit. utterly killed the tax base there. I don't know why anyone familiar with the situation would wonder why the per capita violent crime rates are so high. A kid can't get a job or training, then it's easier to simply get a gun and rob a granny in a parking lot.
DeleteThat must be some headline!
ReplyDeletePOSSIBLE MUNICIPAL PENSIONS TO BE REDUCED 40-60%
DeletePensioners to forced to Medicare or Obamacare
Somewhere along the way, the power of the word has been lost. This brought it sharply back into focus, Mark. Maybe one day the headlines will be the type that give you good vibes.
ReplyDeleteMaybe one day Talon but the future may be good-100 years of thievery and malfeasance won't be corrected satisfactorily in my lifetime. I have seen this city drop, by population, from 5th to 22nd. But even before that slide started politicians and their appointees were robbing a large trough that started to shrink and even as it got too small for them to all get to it at once they continued on as if they were leaders of a city of 2 million people not one of 700thousand with only 50% actually having the ability to pay their property taxes.
DeleteNo ma'am not in my life time.
God that is so grim still, preversely it made me chuckle. Good god it's come to this! Found dead in front of the computer with eyes stil open...a worst night mare!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the visit. From one kick ball trauma survivor to another....may it be a better day!
BTW, is it possible that it might be time to leave Detroit? Too many ties there perhaps.
Melinda--I am sure i will get to the point where this situation of municipal bankruptcy gets so ludicrously bad I will laugh but for now I just have to wait and see if I will get the money & benefits I earned by giving up raises for 20 years and literally breaking my back for or will I and 30,000 others get kicked to the curb so the wealthy who are buying riverfront and downtown properties at fire sale rates continue to get their tax abatement's.
DeleteMetaphorically, this happens to me quite often.
ReplyDeleteMore often I would think than either of us knows anymore Charles. Up here this mess reads like a bad horror novel and as they say the hits just keep on coming.
DeleteToo many Recommended Daily Allowances of dirt?
ReplyDeleteOD'd Alice. Too much to soon and to fast.
Delete... say it isn't so. (and hang in there)
ReplyDeleteCan't lie Helen, it is very much so. I go dead or numb every time I open a news article concerning Detroit. there is absolutely nothing of good news for the average citizen here to see.
Deletesome wag said the same, kinda: the pen is mightier than the sword....
ReplyDeleteYeah tony they can quit cutting my throat anytime now. It is really bad even when you negate the conservative and liberal spins.
DeleteThere is a remedy to this is ... don't watch TV ... don't read the paper, except the obits ... I love obits, sick, eh? But as long as I'm not in them ... I am happy ... that's one way of finding out about whether one is happy ... :) Love your words, Mr. "Walker" :)
ReplyDeleteI read the above - but turning a blind eye doesn't pay the bills. Truly, I fear it will take a lifetime for Detroit to come back, if it ever does. Crime/fear keep people away and that leads to it getting even worse! That is how serious it is. As to why the automobile industry went belly up is a discussion that many people may never agree upon but that really doesn't matter anymore. Innovation and a miracle are what is needed for downstate Michigan. I pray that happens quickly.
ReplyDeleteMark, I get that dyin' tryin' to understand Detroit. It's a sick mess with dumbasses tryin' to run it. I hope you are not carved into again. xo
ReplyDeleteA sad one, Mark.
ReplyDelete