Thursday, July 29, 2010

Cities Die Like People

Most often they die in famine
In dark nights of the civic soul
Cut off from caring Samaritans
In slow putrescence
As resources dwindle.

The body cannibalized
Feeding treacherous mind
That no longer guides;
No longer feels
Or gathers sustenance.

Once-vital pathways
Dead and dormant.
Bustling marketplaces
Covered in rotting plywood.

The self-consumption
Spreading like cancerous crabgrass
On once verdant greens
Leaving hollow sarcophagi
Suggesting the shape of ghosts
That might have been.

Unless some externality
Can bring sanity
Through a new order of business
And restore the flow of vital essence
Upon which survival quickens.

Read this and other great poems on One Shot Wednesday

6 comments:

JH_Poetry said...

(clap, clap) nice Tao Love the metaphores, wordplay, well written.

Tao Joannes said...

thank you for reading!

moondustwriter said...

The dark side of the city

Nice one Tao

why don't you join us on One Shot Wednesdays - all you would do is link and you would get some traffic and feedback and appreciation!!!

dustus said...

Written beautifully—leaves the impression of monumental loss and decay. Thanks for sharing your poem. cheers

Desert Rose said...

To me cities are like people..they live and die like they do..i smell my city in the arms of loved ones,i see it in their eyes..:)
touched,and i loved it..thank you for sharing at one stop..:)

Pete Marshall said...

Hi, I have been away for a week and am catching up on all the great posts at One Stop....

I am glad you shared this..as Moondustwriter said come over more often..

the poem was expressed so very well, cities have multiple personalities
changing constantly depending on the light, weather, the people that inhabit it, its financial structure..i could go on..cheers Pete

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