One place I’ve never been is Omaha.
What skyline stands amid the wheat?
Not knowing mocks me with its gaping maw.

Although I’ve soaked in Hot Springs, Arkansas,
And danced down Forty-Second Street,
One place I’ve never been is Omaha.

What’s local custom and what’s binding law?
Where do the young and single meet?
Not knowing mocks me with its gaping maw.

Dubuque’s passé, the same as Kennesaw;
It’s time to hear another beat.
One place I’ve never been is Omaha.

How do they serve their barbecue and slaw,
And who makes up the town’s elite?
Not knowing mocks me with its gaping maw.

A multitude of questions burn and gnaw.
(Would going make my life complete?)
One place I’ve never been is Omaha.
Not knowing mocks me with its gaping maw.


J.D. Smith has published two collections of poetry in 2021: the light verse collection Catalogs for Food Lovers and the free verse collection Glenn Danzig Carries Cat Litter. His first fiction collection, Transit, will be published in 2022 by Unsolicited Press. Smith works as an editor in Washington, DC, where he lives with his wife Paula Van Lare and their rescue animals.