We flew to Detroit for a tricky operation on my husband’s heart

Hadn’t been back since 1965

When the city roiled with prosperity

Skies smoked dollar bills and

Roving enterprise men drove Cadillacs down wide esplanades

Hived out in skyscrapers

Papered the land with factories and mills

The size of football fields.

By the time we arrived all that was left was

Mucho nothing

Cadaverous warehouses and empty storefronts

Eyeless schools the size of city blocks

Tall office buildings, hundreds of them, all

Hollowed out window shells

A city blank with weeds and broken concrete

I used to live there my husband said

Pointing to a shambled street.

Then we went to the hospital.

Surgery was a great success.