Grand Rapids. It's been a hypothetical eye sore imposing on my life all the time I've lived here. The dread that ensued when school started back up again, or even just returning after a weekend from home...dirty, corporate, dull. So many times I've said "I'll be ok as long as I don't end up in Grand Rapids..."
But..............
Artists preparing for Art Prize in the crispy autumnal atmosphere. Hispanic Festivals where man-ish Che Guevara bracelets were purchased. Parking garages and steam curling out of man holes, the homeless man who smokes and holds a conversation with the friend only he can see; the white-haired parking lot attendant who knows and waves at me every day with a jolly smile but I've never talked to; chalk art under the bridge; swing dancing in Rosa Parks, amidst the beams of light that pop out from the Circle's holes; a man in the river creating a heart out of mere rocks; a man smoking a pipe, blazered and be-wrinkled, watching the man in the river; a indistinguishable figure playing guitar on the side of the river; profs at the janky Burger King who know the burger-flippers; bus drivers who hit on the cashier girls at said BK; the Varnum building, the shiny DeVos Perfromance Hall; Sanchez tapas and MoJos dueling piano bar; crosswalks and irate drivers; rows of hot cars parked along the side of the road; college kids who look like they're lost in Costco, trying to find their mother without looking like losers; women who take their lunch break to walk together, wearing tennis shoes with their business casual attire; the 1913 room waiter, debonair as hell, giving directions to a smiling middle aged blonde, who's obviously late for something; a random band and potential birthday party gone sour at Rosa Parks; couples dressed to the 9s, holding hands, in love beneath the brick and glass sided sky; never-ending Fulton street, loitered by white trash bag-holding pedestrians; the Bitter End manager, black and rotund, kicking out unwanted customers at 2am; the run-down gas stations converted into free parking; the austerity of the river....the bridges....the buildings......
The distaste that's festered in my very soul for you, Grand Rapids, somehow is being pushed aside. It's been replaced by a black hole of adoration and appreciation for you---something that must have been there alongside the hate for you all along, but is only now surfacing, coming on stronger than anticipated, arising as the most surprising of feelings.
Somewhere along the way, I've fallen into deep like with you.
