Blacktop Poem

If you've ever watched the series on the History Channel called "Life After People," you might recognize the road in front of our house. I think it was featured on the "100 Years After People" segment, when the pavement is gobbled up and replaced by weeds.

With all the other bad roads around, I tried to figure out how ours could get the attention of Murray City. Then I remembered that Mayor Dan Snarr is big on poems, or rather, ditties. Like the one he wrote for Murray City:

"When you're driving through Murray

Don't be in such a hurry

Slow down and spend a buck or two

That would be a nice thing for you to do

It would help our tax coffers swell

So our city won't go to hell."

The poem goes on, and if you can find it in the Salt Lake Tribune archives, there was a video of Mayor Snarr reciting and performing it in his city office.

So in May I wrote him the following email:

"Dear Mayor Snarr,
I'll have flowers growing in my road
Where asphalt ought to be
Trucks drive by and fling the rocks
Endangering my house and me
The roads next door have been repaved
I've watched through window pane
But my road's turn to be fixed and saved
No Murray trucks, I wait in vain
The weeds grow strong, the mosquitos, too
The ground is all but bare
If someone doesn't fix it soon
I'm planting flowers there."

The next day he called me on the phone and said he'd come out personally and check it out. He also chatted about the In-N-Out Burger he's trying to get in Murray, the car dealerships, and the bankrupt mall.

Well, I waited until Monday, September 28. In my reminder email I mentioned that Silver Shadow is being repaved and maybe that crew could stop by. I ended saying, "Please don't make me write another poem."

Today while reading the paper I heard a truck in front of the house. And voila:

I also got an email about the same time from the mayor saying the crews would be here today or tomorrow and "I always welcome poetic talents and you can share with me whenever the urge strikes!"

Okay, maybe the guys just dumped the blacktop on top of the leaves and loose dirt, and maybe it doesn't cover the entire pothole or the hole on the other side of the driveway, but at least the biggest hole is covered. The lead guy said someone would come out later and finish the job. Maybe that will keep the snow and ice from turning the road into a muddy blob.