Paris of the Plains

Kansas City had a rich jazz culture,    
where there were snazzy venues  
all over the city that displayed    
open & welcoming marquee.    
   
Let me stop    
and rest a minute.    
   
Kansas City's known    
for many things.    
12th Street & Vine    
is one of them.    
Even the Beatles recorded it.    
   
And so we here in Kansas City,  
our whole lives,    
we all would have to endure it.    
   
I drive & wind & wonder down    
the Paseo Boulevard,    
with its natural    
contours & absolutely enchanting topography;    
and the beautiful Colonnades    
as the central master piece.    
   
And the streaming water fountains    
located all along the routes,    
thoroughfares, and arteries of the city.    
   
My favorite; you'll find her    
downtown at 9th & Main Street;  
she is the Muse of Missouri;  
recognized in a Heaven's glaze;  
and those waters run deep.    
   
   
   
   
But the 18th & Vine district is by far the jazziest.    
   
For me, Its really close to home, and I adore driving through it.      
   
In the Paris of the Plains, It is the Moulin Rouge of Kansas City.      
   
As far as 12th & Vine go, you'll arrive there    
and only a find a small park bench & street lamp.    
(Ah, Alas)  the corner!  
It doesn't even exist!    
 
But for all those that traveled    
the distance here to find it,  
   
It is there you can sit    
and rest.    
   
Perhaps a little disappointed    
in something so immortal,    
knowing we will never outlive it.