Gary, Indiana

Gary, Indiana: Home of the famous U.S.
Sky Factories--see them at work,
churning out an order
for a dense smoky purply heaven
(their specialty), which they extrude,
cloud by cloud, from a horrid host
of chimneys, quality check from metal towers
that touch the clouds (just to check them out),

then waft the order away
on inexpensive freight winds
to their customers.

Inside these gothic honeycombed caverns,
huge ovens flare red and white hot
to create billows of scorching white steam,
tinged (for rich coloration) with chemical impurities.

With typical Yankee efficiency and ingenuity,
the designers have contrived to use
excess heat and chemical by-products
from celestio-fabrication to produce
steel, cement, plastics, tin plate, rivets, screws, refined
oil and many other new things
under the sun.

In the foreground, industrial spies
from competitive sky-maker, Trees And Grass, Inc.,
are pale green with envy.

Dean Blehert

Last Updated: October 6, 2002