to the hometown i hate,
i miss seeing the october sunrise while taking the train to school every morning
to the hometown i hate,
i miss being able to wear uggs, hats and scarves already at the end of september,
to the hometown i hate,
i miss being able to buy 90 cent face masks and my favorite protein bars at the drugstore 10 minutes away from me
to the hometown i hate,
i miss seeing the porsches and mercedes c-classes parked on the curbes of our sidewalks
to the hometown i hate,
i miss the quietness of my area
to the hometown i hate,
i miss being able to speak a language i know fluently, not worrying about the anxiety i get if i get into a complicated situation
to the hometown i hate,
i miss running in the quiet, clean, green forest next to us
to the hometown i hate,
i miss sleeping in my own bed, in the room i did not like
to the hometown i hate,
i miss being able to go to my fully-equipped kitchen and bake whenever i want to, which i complained was too small until i moved into my dorm
to the hometown i hate,
i miss you

The rusted belt is tight
in our hometown city.
Black smoke masks the lights
In one gaseous setting;
the permenant fitting
Of our hometown city

Trees exchange steel
In our hometown city.
You’ve never seen the wheels
churn and the deals burnt
In the factories that take pity
On the nitty-gritty of our
Own hometown city.

The last laughs with us
In our hometown city
We don’t’ ride the Cali bus,
But yea, I'd say we are witty,
cause al'the prettiest girls
Live in our hometown city.

The river’s been burnt
In our hometown city.
Yea we’ve learned a lot
From our own ad(e)missions;
And now, clinics fill prescriptions
in ourown hometown city

In my own hometown city
We’re slicker than you,
Even though our York’s isn’t new…
Why? Watch my city revive in
Front of your eyes- then ask me;
Why is this your hometown city?

Welcome back to your hometown
Nothing much has changed since you we're last around
Time never seemed to make its rounds
To visit the streets of your hometown

You've been away from this place for years
Never skipped a beat nor shed a lick of tears
So why do you find yourself back here
Thought that when you left, you made it clear

You swore you would never come back again
A promise you made way back then
You had your why's you knew your when's
Your old hometown was no way to live

As you step back onto Main street
You ain't felt this sidewalk since the 70's
You find yourself not surprised to see
The reason then you had to leave

On the front porch of your old house
You reach for the door before you chicken out
That's when it is you figure out
Why in the first place you left your hometown

You turn your back and turn away
To confront your demons another day
Where you're less scared or more brave
In what it is you have to say

So here it is another round
Of one handed goodbyes to your hometown
If you ever had your well deserved doubts
You're no longer welcome in your hometown

Everything comes back to your hometown
You go to college looking for a fresh start
But you know everything about you still gets around
In college who do you go to first, your high school friends
Go to college in the same state
And nothing ever ends
You stay where you are comfortable
Because in an environment with strangers you look for the familiar faces
Seeing a piece of home in crowd places
A sense of relief over flows
You don't need to stress to impress them
They have seen you at your low
Unlike these strangers that surround you
Soon enough you'll feel like you're living in a zoo
And the first person you will turn to will be from your hometown
The last person you'll end up with will be from your hometown
The person you will be with forever will be from your hometown

I truly believe happiness
is listening to your hometown heroes
play their final show at their favorite venue
and crying with them as they play their final song.

And everyone in the crowd sings along.

It's always been a dream of mine-
a dream as big as the state of Nebraska,
but they've taught me, my hometown heroes,
that hope IS a good thing.

And my hometown is Lincoln. And my hometown is where dreams come true.

You were my little hometown,
somewhere I could stay forever,
somewhere I could grow old in,
somewhere I was content.

I was your little hometown,
somewhere you grew up in,
but wanted to leave in the long run,
somewhere you were never content.

We used to sit by the pond,
and talk about the future,
I talked about ours
but you talked about yours.

We lie under the stars,
realizing how minute we were,
I got lost within the galaxy in your eyes,
while you never took notice of mine.

If I told you that I loved you,
(which I never did)
I know it’d never cross your mind,
to tell me you loved me back
(because you never did)

In your eyes, I was just your little hometown
Stranded in the middle of nowhere,
Somewhere you’ll never reach far.
In me, you thought you’d never make it anywhere.
So just like every protagonist in every story ever told,
you ditched your little hometown.

Hometown boys today aren’t like the ones my grandmother remembers.
Back then they looked like decent folk.
Hair combed, pants the right size,
always greeting with “Excuse me, miss.”
But today, most of them ain’t worth your while.
Standing in shadows, lurking by the train stations.
Looking like criminals.
There’s no formality or decency with these boys.
“Hey, girl! Where you goin’?”
M’ name ain’t girl. You aren’t supposed to answer these kind.
“Hey! You hear me talkin’a you?”
These are the kind of men who you’re supposed to run from.
So relaxed and limp
like snakes.
Not a care in the world.
Up on their high horses when they can’t even find the **** saddle.
Who the hell do they think they are?
Hometown boys ain’t nothing like they were
decades ago.
The kind you bring home to meet your mama and your sister.
The kind that bring sunflowers on Sundays.
The kind that call you late at night
just to see if you made it home safe and sound.
The kind that sadly go unnoticed today.
So few of them left.
So few of the sweet old-fashioned boys.
The kind that never call you ‘gull’.
They don’t come out much these days.
Probably looked at all the other hometown boys
and decided to throw in the towel and stay home.
Pity.

Hometown girls
are real with you.
If they don't like you,
they'll even make their *****
look ugly;
pulling them in all the way
to the tops of their thighs
through their buttholes
and you can smell the stench
in your brain.

But when they let you in,
when they let you sit on their ears,
it's like warp-drive.

They smoke virginia slims,
because that's what their mom's smoke,
and the bags under their eyes
are filled with nicotine,
but they're pretty bags,
purses of flesh
full with the kinetic beauty of coal.

Hometown girls are mostly black,
mostly white,
fifty-fity,
but nobody's checking
and when they whisper something nice in your ear
it's colored with a microbrew
or a wheel of Jim Beam.

Sometimes they'll take you by the wrist
into the bathrooms;
sometimes they'll take your drink
when you're not looking
and smile when you catch them
with it on their lips.

But that smile is good even,
on par with a supernova
in its ability to crush
and make beautiful.


But most of the time,
they stand around
outside Casbah
and Motorco
--if they're bougie
it'll be West End--
in the middle of the night
under the porch of the sky
looking out with amber
slitted eyes
like cats,
their legs twitching thoughtfully
as they wait for cabs
and pick at the night.

Hometown girls
are ****/beautiful
because they'll watch your every move
from the gallery
out of empathy,
knowing they've been that ***** before,
knowing they've been that lonely,
knowing they just want to get drunk
and want to be around randoms
that aren't so random.

A hometown should be one of pleasant memories
Going down to the creak, playing games in the streets
Not in this renown hidden town
A town full of dread and full of sorrow
Fulfilling the rich and suffering the poor
The unwelcomed guests welcomed all around
How I once was proud this was my hometown
My home will forever be in this town bearing misery
Until I get the courage to leave