Minnesota Nice

I see Minnesota nice

in the middle of Frogtown

on Saturday night

when I hail a Green & White

cab on University Avenue,

and dodge high hookers

riffling ghetto rolls

when the Spaghetti Junction

crush of cars loosens on I-94,

finally lets me slide through

a sunshine traffic jam

—a celebrity walleye

swimming uptown

bound to sizzle

in some skillet

before I die

when the Dorothy Day

contingent eats

after-bar omelets,

pancakes, and hash browns

in starvation dreams

hunkered in booths

at Mickey’s Diner

with the slumming

Summit Avenue elite.

I see Minnesota nice

coursing the skyway’s

hardened arteries

pushing polar winds

while I spiral

my way

down

to the city’s

core.

[Originally appeared in Advance the Engine Summer - Michael Leggs. Gull Island Press, 2008.]