And when, in the city in which I love you,
even my most excellent song goes unanswered,
andI mount the scabbed streets,
the long shouts of avenues,
and tunnel sunken night in search of you...
That I negotiate fog, bituminous
rain rining like teeth into the beggar's tin,
or two men jackaling a third in some alley
weirdly lit by a couch on fire, that I
......
Have you forgotten yet?...
For the world's events have rumbled on since those gagged days,
Like traffic checked while at the crossing of city-ways:
And the haunted gap in your mind has filled with thoughts that flow
Like clouds in the lit heaven of life; and you're a man reprieved to go,
Taking your peaceful share of Time, with joy to spare.
But the past is just the same--and War's a bloody game...
Have you forgotten yet?...
Look down, and swear by the slain of the War that you'll never forget.
......
AFOOT and light-hearted, I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me, leading wherever I choose.
Henceforth I ask not good-fortune--I myself am good fortune;
Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing,
Strong and content, I travel the open road.
The earth--that is sufficient;
I do not want the constellations any nearer;
......
I--The Tragedy
She sits in the tawny vapour
That the City lanes have uprolled,
Behind whose webby fold on fold
Like a waning taper
The street-lamp glimmers cold.
A messenger's knock cracks smartly,
Flashed news is in her hand
......
Modern Machinery
We were taken from the ore-bed and the mine,
We were melted in the furnace and the pit--
We were cast and wrought and hammered to design,
We were cut and filed and tooled and gauged to fit.
Some water, coal, and oil is all we ask,
And a thousandth of an inch to give us play:
And now, if you will set us to our task,
We will serve you four and twenty hours a day!
......
At the stroke of midnight,
The world falls silent and still.
The moon shines brightly above,
Casting shadows that chill.
The stars twinkle and dance,
In the night sky above.
A gentle breeze whispers secrets,
Of lost dreams and love.
......
These are poems about city life, poems about modern life and relationships, Also poems about cities like Alexandria, Chernobyl, Hiroshima, Louisville, Memphis, Moscow, Nashville and Salzburg,
The City Is a Garment: Nashville
by Michael R. Burch
A rhinestone skein, a jeweled brocade of light,—
the city is a garment stretched so thin
her festive colors bleed into the night,
......
If I die here, let it be known
You were my happy place
Not Disney
As the smell of the sewers
Cascade into my nostrils
I think, one day, I'll grab the literati
Of this city and be praised
O' Toronto let down yr hair
And save me from these small town doldrums
That put a chain around my ankles to
......
Roses in gold sheen
glinting fire at hot June noon
Sun washed garden blooms
Sparkling city paved in gold
in scents of summer so old
і знову місто проникає в тебе нотою мі
фонити без перерви саксофонним гуком вулиць
мі мі мі
місто
вмістилище містики
міст
викладений щільними ярусами
як велетенська надбудова
над стисненою від страху ріллею
......