A month ago, Detroit fans were shocked to hear White Stripes/Raconteurs man Jack White publicly diss the city from which he came. The Rolling Stone interview included the following comment:

In a bigger sense, White finds it comforting to have the Raconteurs around — both on the road and at home. “Detroit had become like an iron-maiden sort of torture device,” [White] says. “I couldn’t breathe anymore in that scene. The musical environment in the South has always been supportive — that’s where all the greatest music is from. There, you don’t have to be ashamed of being ambitious, or to let on that you care.” [From Issue 1054 — June 12, 2008]

In response to the mild backlash White received for his comments, he penned a poem for the city, which was first reported by the Detroit Free PressSunday.

White explained his comments to the Free Press by saying they were not “a representation of my feelings about Detroit the city, a town that I have strong feelings about…nor were they expressions about its citizens.”

White prefaced his poem thusly: “The following poem is the Detroit from my mind, the Detroit that is in my heart, the home that encapsulates and envelops those who are truly blessed with the experience of living within its boundaries.”

With that said, he delivers the following.

Courageous Dream’s Concern

I have driven slow,
three miles an hour or so,
through Highland Park, Heidelberg, and the
Cass Corridor.
I’ve hopped on the Michigan,
and transferred to the Woodward,
and heard the good word blaring from an
a.m. radio.
I love the worn-through tracks of trolley
trains breaking through their
concrete vaults,
As I ride the Fort Street or the Baker,
just making my way home.

I sneak through an iron gate, and fish
rock bass out of the strait,
watching the mail boat with
its tugboat gait,
hauling words I’ll never know.
The water letter carrier,
bringing prose to lonely sailors,
treading the big lakes with their trailers,
floats in blue green chopping waters,
above long-lost sunken failures,
awaiting exhumation iron whalers,
holding gold we’ll never know.

I’ve slid on Belle Isle,
and rowed inside of it for miles.
Seeing white deer running alongside
While I glide, in a canoe.
I’ve walked down Caniff holding a glass
Atlas root beer bottle in my hands
And I’ve entered closets of coney islands
early in the morning too.
I’ve taken malt from Stroh’s and Sanders,
felt the black powder of abandoned
embers,
And smelled the sawdust from wood cut
to rehabilitate the fallen edifice.
I’ve walked to the rhythm of mariachis,
down junctions and back alleys,
Breathing fresh-baked fumes of culture
nurtured of the Latin and the
Middle East.
I’ve fallen down on public ice,
and skated in my own delight,
and slid again on metal crutches
into trafficked avenues.

Three motors moved us forward,
Leaving smaller engines to wither,
the aluminum, and torpedo,
Monuments to unclaimed dreaming.
Foundry’s piston tempest captured,
Forward pushing workers raptured,
Frescoed families strife fractured,
Encased by factory’s glass ceiling.

Detroit, you hold what one’s been seeking,
Holding off the coward-armies weakling,
Always rising from the ashes
not returning to the earth.

I so love your heart that burns
That in your people’s body yearns
To perpetuate,
and permeate,
the lonely dream that does encapsulate,
Your spirit, that God insulates,
With courageous dream’s concern.

Jack White and the Raconteurs will be at the WaMu Theatre on 9-19.

I hope he’s penned a few stanzas for me…

- Shawn