Meyers & Plymouth | Detroit, MI 2004
By Justin RogersMe and my friends lived on
Meyers a two lane street lined
with leaning trees and bungalows
connecting major streets
Joy Rd.
and
Plymouth.
We lived too far from Joy Rd. to call it ours—
instead we praised Plymouth—
"P-Rock"
Chanted this on playgrounds.
Painted it on industrial dumpsters.
We wanted to own something
Our piece of Plymouth was unheard of
but we knew P-rock was the rawest
way to consume all of Detroit:
Liquor store pizza and hot fries.
Traps posing as penny candy stores.
Boys on the bus draped in Pelle Pelle.
When the Pistons won the '04 finals
our parents stood in the potholes singing
"We Are the Champions"
loud enough for the Joy Rd. boy's
candy paint Caprice Classic
to prowl down Plymouth playing
the song in-between Slum Village and Jay-Z.
That summer we were only left wanting time
to stop so we could steep in our joy,
so we could own a version of Detroit filled to the brim
with victory
Justin Rogers is a Black Detroit writer and author of Black, Matilda (Glass Poetry Press 2019).
