Every Time I Think I’m Going to Leave Denver

I think of the mountains to the west

Yes, Denver is the “mile high city”

But the mountains nearby

stick up another two miles,

and to the east lies hundreds

of miles of rolling

green treeless plains.

If I could make it

to California

or even back to Chicago

it might be worth it.

If I could go to Florida,

On some windswept beach,

Or cold clear blue spring

or some big city down

on the Ohio

like Cincinnati

or even Pittsburgh.

Cities with hundreds

of bridges and staircases,

cities with good food,

better people

and beer older than Colorado.

So I sit here,

Drinking overpriced beer

Surrounded by hipsters

Who know nothing

of work and steel mills

and dream of leaving,

but I comb my hair

up into a ponytail

and know I am here.