Now time out fellow poets, I'm not here to start nonsense

These words were ankle weights on my conscience

Let me just speak up for a little while

The doubters are verbally strangling my smile

I stared at the local news and couldn't believe the madness

The negative thoughts on our local city brought me to sadness

It's like some are addicted to the maze of past failures

And they are scared at walking the positive paths of cultures

Their're trying to murder this magic city

With muttered phrases that sound shifty

Some have dwelled here through all seasons

But they loudly cheer for the demise of this entire region

How can you place bets under cover of night

On who finally turns off the city lights? 

This city has endured racial struggles, steel production downturns

As well as storms whose effects cannot be spurned

Yet many smashed open their piggy banks

Downtown's expanding with few complaints

The Champion Barons returning from their pilgrimage

Railroad Park drawing in people of every age

Purchase your trading cards of the 'Ham right now

Because the price isn't estimated to go down

I teleported here from the future with a warning

If you don't grasp this you will be found wanting

Your relatives were foot soldiers who withstood attacks?

Let it be known by all that I truly respect that

But don't rudely shove aside newcomers who just arrived

Who weren't here 4 generations, but possess a will to survive

Old and new can be teammates in this southern realm

Raising all global standards, leaving opponents overwhelmed

(Originally performed at the Carver Theater in Birmingham, Alabama April 2014)