Venice at Dawn – Photo from Pinterest
sinews of city
in the hour of sunrise
find veneration
From my books City of Pawns and Riverthink
Cities
All posts tagged Cities
“Urban Decay” by Ricki Mountain
(Regarding the 50th anniversary of the Newark riots)
animosities piled
on resentments
generations of tinder
stacked hip deep
in high racial heat
of july sixty-seven
a criminal free-for-all
shook to their feet
the decrepit wood
false-fronted structures
of politics long since
abandoned of
competent leadership
dry public policies
ill-made and laid
among too many sparks
points of origin
plotting a very thin line
between order and chaos
respect and disdain
ignition by voices
of social pathology
fiery language
fomented a blaze that
touched off explosions
its once sturdy bonework
of commerce and industry
now so much flyash
on dissipate winds
this ancient brick city
descended to rubble
and ruin of civil unrest
lifeblood mortar
in hemorrhage circling
a five decade drain
down and into the void
emigration in train
tearing middle class flesh
from the carcass
whose murmuring prayers
for revival are heard
on those rare quiet nights
a revival that needs
well intended
new hearts and new minds
who have bricklaying skills
and a commonweal vision
a vision that sees
the thing loved by the heart
by the whole human heart
New York City Photo from pinterest.com
dubious claims to
expressionist art
loudly drawn
vivid pictographs
mutilate metaphors
carrying currents of
faint social conscience
bold voices of vandals
in broad primal strokes
of indelible ego
and stylized loyalty
speak an impulsive
post-modern
aesthetic of aerosol ink
the tattoos of the city
“Night City” by Anasatasiya Kachina
the countryside stirs me
in the klieglight of mornings
but cities appeal to me
under the darkness of nights
electricity paints
impressionist scenes
hinting movement
by motionless features and forms
while quickening flows of organic activities
giving the eyes
sublime sense of vitality
spotlighting aspects of urban anatomy
sensuous elements dressed for the dance
highlighting glimpses of life at its best
or perhaps as it could be
when seen with the proper adaption
of shadow and light
electricity paints
impressionist scenes
hiding probably real
destitution of spirit
in corners unlit and unseen
where the derelict structures of ramshackle minds
suffer uneasy respite from
bleakness revealed by each re-rising sun
sharpened circumstance
stabbing at instinct for sleep
and at vascular impulse for hope
am I shallow
to love the dark city
or can I redeem some small measure of dignity
saying it’s not so much love
as a preference
Photo from pinterest.com
streetcorner Sundays
guys meeting their girls
preaching pinballer poetry
milkshake foam mustaches
winking with rhymes
doubled over themselves
sweet as muscle tees
tucked into cigarette packs
cool hair combing arms
warming poodle skirt waists
bootheels caught nonchalant
on fat chromium revving
through smokerings exhaled
from world war two zippos
while backpocket comics
curl superman capes
brushing unwanted innocence
hard against wishfulness
straddling headwaters
running with hormones
round rocks of confusion
“Abstract Manhattan” by Brian Carter
metropolis sculpted
from granite ambitions
each skyscraping statue
erect in its embrace by
an armature of commerce
deep mercantile canyons
their enterprise shimmers
in swift racing glide on
the grain of two rivers
converged at the battery
southernmost outpost
of free aspirations
here history found him
and gave his sharp mind
clever means to discover
and climb secret paths
from the sun deprived
pall of collective endeavor
attaining a rarefied place
among peaks of the skyline
enlightened and warmed
by his own private sun
panoramic aspirations
ride and headily rise upon
crass urban thermals nest
opportunistically tenanting
lofty architectural boughs
granite steel-rooted trees
grant glazed aeries to avarice
high rise hermetical tombs
mad with pale noble corpses
alive but not living afflicted
with character weak from
effete overweening ambition
“Indifference” by Jorge Cardenas
commuter runs sing out
their steely speed
clipping through
countryside stretches
that echo their stark
syncopated shrill hum
but these passenger trains
decelerate sharply
all the way down to
a bump and jar pace
when encroaching
old cities and towns
where they often
crawl carefully
mindful of vandals
and vandalized track
en route straight up
the backside of life
unkempt boarded-up precincts
sad shantytowns
nobody sleeps in by choice
hard places
where scavengers
pick apart carcasses
iron or bone
either way
stolen cars
broken dreams
they both have their markets
where pieces of what
were once noble and whole
are reduced to
illicit commodities
wheel rims and hearts
minds and stereo parts
engines and genitals
yanked from their hosts
lost forever
sold or indecently used
by pushers of
powders and pills
by predators
trading in souls
shredding dignity
like so much
valueless
vinyl upholstery
and the passengers
never quite seem
to take notice
eyes occupied
somewhere with
columns of newsprint
with briefcases
notebooks or
lidded in naps
yet once through and out
each bleak zone of despair
as the train regains speed
bump and jar
smoothed away
more than half
the well-barbered and
trendy coiffed heads
turn to look
out the windows
and watch the benign
untroubling scenery
leading them blithely
on to their own daily dreams
“Machu Picchu” by Dante Guevara Bendezu
unable to catch my breath
all the air in the world
thinned and solemnly
drawn in a burial shroud
upon mazes of masonry
ritual outlines of citadel
medieval empire felled
from impregnable heights
of it myth-imbued aerie in
misty conceit of low clouds
by an alien conquest
of culture and canon
the altar of condors
abruptly made silent
the mountaintops weep
grieving history’s heritage
harsh bitter lessons that
trust when ill-placed
is a most lethal weakness
and kindness ill-paid
is rewarded with cruelty
the passing of pastoral ethos
Darwinian story retold
since the dawning of time
leaving mazes of masonry
marking its mysteries
artifacts worthy of reverence
stone signals of hope
irrepressible stubborn
that someday a city
of good men and women
will stand till the sun
gives its last to the day
From my books Human Waters and Legacies (vol.2)
Photo from pinterest.com
Photographer Unknown
eyes ahead
ears behind
keep alert
a brisk pace
through the
danger zone
night watch
alive with a
cold hearted
bold hearted
purpose red
teeth bared
for battle no
mercy at hand
conscience
numb to the
ethics of civil
compassion
a venue of
dog eat dog
appetites
sharpened by
social pathology
hurry along
till your hairs
are no longer
electric your
skin once again
unperspired
apparitions of
one’s own demise
fading into
false safety
it’s right here
and right now
the streets
close ranks to
cut off escape
and come in
for the kill
Poesy plus Polemics 