Jack White may have been a little down on his hometown in interviews lately, but don’t think he doesn’t have love for the Motor City. The Raconteur may have said that Detroit’s “super-negative” music scene was part of what drove him to move to Nashville in 2006, but “those expressions of mine have never been a representation of my feelings about Detroit the city, a town that I have strong feelings about … nor were they expressions about its citizens.” To prove his devotion to the city that gave us Ted Nugent, General Motors, and some of the most successful white rappers in American history, he has crafted a poem. A series of stanzas that includes references to “malt from Stroh’s and Sanders,” “frescoed families strife fractured,” and “The water letter carrier, bringing prose to lonely sailors.” Surely the fear of another lyrical waxing of this kind will keep locals from ever daring to question his spiritual solidarity again.

The last two stanzas of Jack White’s “Courageous Dream’s Concern.”

Detroit, you hold what one’s been seeking,
Holding off the coward-armies weakling,
Always rising from the ashes
not returning to the earth.

I so love your heart that burns
That in your people’s body yearns
To perpetuate,
and permeate,
the lonely dream that does encapsulate,
Your spirit, that God insulates,
With courageous dream’s concern.

And whether breaking a Von Bondie’s nose,
or allegedly recording Electric Six cameos,
Will Jack White return when one least would suppose;
Donning the finest in red and white clothes?
Who knows?
Maybe he’ll keep dressing like some Leslie West wanna-be like he did at Bonnaroo.

Exclusive: Read Jack White’s poem for Detroit [Detroit Free Press]