It used to be an old wood mill
Now it’s an outside shopping district
Full of coffee shops
Clothing stores
Restaurants
Breweries and wineries
Ice cream and candy shops
I could go on here
But you get the picture
There’s a river that snakes by
And walking paths along the snake
In the summertime
It’s alive with big hats, sunglasses, moving shoes
Shopping bags and credit cards
There’s a movie theater
And the smell of burnt popcorn rides the wind
Right into the nostrils of the children
Their mouths water
As they beg their parents to buy them more things
Their parents are loaded
Unfortunately
That’s the way it goes around here
The whole town is a palace for the upper class
They came from California
And paid for their nice houses with cash
They drove out the lower class
There was no room for us here
So most walked the plank
And left their once hidden gem of a home
Now there’s no one to pour them beer
And make their expensive coffee drinks
There’s no more young bodies to bring them their overpriced food
They drove out the burger flippers
And the struggling artist
There’s a mountain a few miles outside of town
They’ll ski
And then head back into their palace to get drunk
The alcohol laws are pretty lax here
Can’t be arresting the white and rich
So the cops turn a blind eye
The growing homeless population is an eye sore
For these privileged parasites
The racism is ignored
It’s taboo here
But hey
That’s Oregon for you
What’s a utopia for some
has turned into hell for others.
It’s funny how often it plays out like that
-C.H.
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