Plenty of city's have inspired songs or stories or, more recently, blogs. But where's the romance? Where's the epic poetry?
Apparently, Detroit.
In "The Straits," Kristin Palm, a California native who spent a few years living in Detroit, writes about "the D" on a grand scale. From the Detroit Free Press :
"The Straits," issued by a California publisher, is essentially an epic poem about Detroit. It's perhaps the first epic poem about Detroit, or at least the first of the 21st Century.
It starts by describing the French fort of the 1700s and ends by talking about "broken streetlights, failing schools, Crazy Larry pushing his shopping cart down the left turn lane of Woodward Avenue."
And while it might be epic -- it is 97 pages long -- it might not really be a poem in the traditional sense. It contains lists, for example, of the jobs performed by Detroiters in the 19th Century: stove builders, printers, iron molders, millers, brewers, Teamsters.
Other lists include how the 43 victims died during the 1967 riot; long-gone auto companies, and the cities to which Detroit jobs have gone in recent years.
Zach Patton -- Executive Editor. Zach has written about a range of topics, including social policy issues and urban planning and design. Originally from Tennessee, he joined GOVERNING as a staff writer in 2004. He received the 2011 Jesse H. Neal Award for Outstanding Journalism
E-mail: zpatton@governing.com 
Written and compiled by staff writers and editors, GOVERNING View is an on-the-ground, and sometimes behind-the-scenes, look at the topics we're covering in print and online. From notes on what's up in statehouses, county courthouses and city halls, to encounters with people, places and things, GOVERNING View is a window into the side of state and local government you don't always see.
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