What does it mean: "I live in two towns"

"One is up and one is down."

I live in two towns 

One is white, one is brown

One is up, one is down.

This poem has been one of Shannon's favorites from the moment it came to me. (I think I was driving and just started reciting as she listened.) It also took longer than most poems do to write. It may seem simple, but that simplicity was the challenge!

There's really two layers of meaning here. First is the natural: Alaska's extremes mean that you have a winter and summer version of the city. Everyone has to adjust and completely change their routines and activities twice a year. 

The second, perhaps more subtle, layer is the political. Anchorage is an incredibly diverse town, but with that diversity comes frustrating inequities and political abuses. If you read the poem with that sense in mind, I think some new insights may appear.

The references to "north" and "south," for example, refer to the fact that more than half of Anchorage's population comes from the Lower 48 (or the South, as Alaskans often call it), but the city is also divided into two major sections. North Anchorage houses a larger portion of lower income folks, and South Anchorage is where many of the wealthier subdivisions appear. 

Most towns have this sort of duplicity, of course, which is why I don't mention Anchorage in the poem. Hopefully readers will find applications to their location as well.