The South Shore Journal, Vol. 2, 2007, p.1.
The Heart of My Home
We move.
We build.
We are.
The shores of Lake Michigan
Speak loudly, roaring resistant
Against the steel town’s celebration
Of a magnificent past.
Outsiders mourn our future,
Relegated to the parameters
Of doomed prophecy
For my home- Gary, Indiana.
Struggle suggests a bright future;
Beyond local political landscapes,
Horizons of rebirth,
Merge the city’s soul.
I walk amid rays of optimism
Bringing familiar laughter,
Neighbors’ smiles greeting
Seasons of instability and change.
A framework at risk
Flows with metric precision,
Creates optimism
The greater reality of wealth.
My community bears scars
From a painful history,
Forgotten by those of us who fled
Remembered by those who remain.
I hold unearthed dreams,
Energy tabled by ravages
Of transition, incomplete
The recess of my childhood fantasy.
Time stands guard.
Generations build legacies,
Tenacious monuments of faith,
A symbol of strength and survival.
- Gary, Indiana –
-Beverly Lewis-Burton