Showing posts with label Spin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Spin. Show all posts

Sunday, August 14, 2011

The City, as it stands


Voices cringe
As present and future
Mingle on a past refused

Tar is poured
Cracks are filled
Like Hershey unto dairy
Infiltrates the crevices
With a syrup-sugary sweet-
Deterring opinion from the reality
Of pavement entrenched in sleep

Skeletons linger-
Long past their time,
Framework abandoned-
Alive yet hollow,
In memories we choose to forget

Frailty grays composition
As interiors accept their decay
Yet the podium refuses such horizons-
Flavoring the conditions, as if we’re composed of clay

The above piece was created for D'verse, and Claudia's "Going Urban" writing prompt. 

This type of poetry isn't something I normally take part in, simply because, when referring to a city or a place, you must force yourself to live within the moment, the architecture and observations of that particular place and/or moment.  You don't have to spell things out completely, but pure abstractions and/or puzzle pieces, which are the types of poems I most normally engage in, really aren't proper fits for a City Poem, when staying truest to the form.  At least that's how I see it anyhow.  

The best City Poems, in my opinion, are the ones that take you on a walk.  Observations of the physical environment, notes along such a journey, immersing oneself within the overlooked minutia of the everyday.  I didn't really do that here.  

I took the least abstract route I could for myself, and looked at my city from a few vantage points, what once was and what is now.  Not exactly what a City Poem is all about, but it's the closest I could get to.  

But this all said, trying to think in ways contrary to one's comfort level is extremely important, not only for the poet and artist, but also for the people as a whole. When someone expands their limits, despite the result, they add nuances to their being.  Anyhow, that's all for another time another discussion. So, anyway, I relish all the forms and prompts provided by sites such as D'verse, as they truly do assist the quester along his/her never-ending crusade for Creativity and Artistic Challenge.  So my thanks go out once again:)