And now, Today's Poems on the Aboveground Walls* of Flint, Michigan...

I went for a stroll in the not-quite-Spring but still fairly pleasant weather today and found the walls of downtown Flint Chock Full O'Bizarre, Dadaist Gibberish, some examples of which follow.

On the wall of the former Detroit and Northern Savings Bank which is now part of the Flint Journal's physical plant, we have "NOT THE ACTUAL SIZES OF WHAT POLICER?" I would answer that question if only I knew what the hell it was supposed to mean. Also there is still "WE ARE ALL MOVERS!" which I reported on in a previous post.

Nearby is a Flint Journal newspaper vending box with another well-nigh unanswerable question..."HOTTEST NEWS FLASHES DALEY?" Not sure if "Daley" was supposed to be "daily" or is in fact supposed to be a reference to a former or current Chicago politician. Also this gem on the newspaper vending box: "ALL THE DAILY ALUMINUM, IRON, METAL, STEEL, BUILDING AND UNBUILDING TASKS OBSTACLES POLICERS SYWYKS" with the final nonsensical word circled.

On the Capitol Theatre building..."I NOT HAS ALL AREAS AREA THEMES STRAYERS!"

And also, "A LYNN BLISS STARTS ON PLANETS TOOLS."

And finally, "ALL DUES? DO TALK UP ALL OUR ACTUAL CREATORS ACTUAL ABILITIES POWERS RIGHTS ISSUES TODAYZ!"

On the cement base of an electrical box, corner of S. Saginaw and Second Streets: "LOCAL 25 NAVIGATION DEVICES SUPPLIES WHERE?"

On the boards surrounding the currently vacant building at 625 S. Saginaw Street, we have "TODAY NAVIGATION OBSTACLES STRAYERS! MFH SYWYKS STATS!"

Finally, our Dadaist Graffitist has now branched out from buildings to sidewalks! In front of another of Flint's many vacant buildings (this one is at 649 S. Saginaw) is this Scrap O'Nonsense: " A DOCSTATS! WHAT ACTS? YOUR? HELP 800! ALL THE TOP IT GOD POLICERS BROWN THINGS ON IN IT!"

I have seen "SYWYKS" several times in this person's screeds but have no idea what it might mean. "Policers" or "Policer" also seem to occur often as does "navigation."

Your guess is as good as mine as to what all this means.

*-This being a reference to the Simon and Garfunkel song "A Poem on the Underground Wall" in which "underground" refers to the New York City subways. We do not have subways here in Flint, so therefore the change to "aboveground."