“that birdless city”

Since moving to Lawrence about a year ago, I’ve been reminded that in every part of Kansas that isn’t Topeka, “Topeka” is a metonym for state government — like “Washington” at the national level. To put in another way, people in Lawrence say “Topeka” the way they might say “tick season” or “gastroenteritis.”

It’s hard to hear your hometown reduced to a byword, a pejorative, or a punchline, even when there are people in your hometown working hard to make it all of those things. I complain about Topeka all the time, but I get defensive when other people do. Topeka is like a family member to me.

A couple of weeks ago I got to hear Jamaal May read this terrific little poem. Someone needs to write a poem that does for Topeka what Jamaal’s does for Detroit — gives it back its birds.