Mr. Mine
Notice how he has numbered the blue veins
in my breast. Moreover there are ten freckles.
Now he goes left. Now he goes right.
He is building a city, a city of flesh.
He's an industrialist. He has starved in cellars
and, ladies and gentlemen, he's been broken by iron,
by the blood, by the metal, by the triumphant
iron of his mother's death. But he begins again.
Now he constructs me. He is consumed by the city.
>From the glory of words he has built me up.
>From the wonder of concrete he has molded me.
He has given me six hundred street signs.
The time I was dancing he built a museum.
He built ten blocks when I moved on the bed.
He constructed an overpass when I left.
I gave him flowers and he built an airport.
For traffic lights he handed at red and green
lollipops. Yet in my heart I am go children slow.
poem by Anne Sexton
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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We Built This City
Chorus:
We built this city, we built this city on rock and roll
Built this city, we built this city on rock and roll
Say you dont know me or recognize my face
Say you dont care who goes to that kind of place
Knee deep in the hoopla sinking in your fight
Too many runaways eating up the night
Marconi plays the mamba, listen to the radio, dont you remember
We built this city, we built this city on rock and roll
Chorus:
We built this city, we built this city on rock and roll
Built this city, we built this city on rock and roll
Someone always playing corporation games
Who cares theyre always changing corporation names
We just want to dance here someone stole the stage
They call us irresponsible write us off the page
Marconi plays the mamba, listen to the radio, dont you remember
We built this city, we built this city on rock and roll
We built this city, we built this city on rock and roll
Built this city, we built this city on rock and roll
Its just another sunday, in a tired old street
Police have got the choke hold, oh then we just lost the beat
Who counts the money underneath the bar
Who rides the wrecking ball in two rock guitars
Dont tell us you need us, cos were the ship of fools
Looking for america, coming through your schools
(Im looking out over that golden gate bridge
Out on another gorgeous sunny saturday, not seein that bumper to bumper traffic)
Dont you remember (member)(member)
(whats your favorite radio station, in your favorite radio city
The city by the bay, the city that rocks, the city that never sleeps)
Marconi plays the mamba, listen to the radio, dont you remember
We built this city, we built this city on rock and roll
We built this city, we built this city on rock and roll
Built this city, we built this city on rock and roll
Built this city, we built this city on rock and roll
Built this city, we built this city on rock and roll
(we built, we built this city) built this city (we built, we built this city)
(repeats out)
song performed by by Starship
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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We Built This City
CHORUS
We built this city we built this city on rock an' roll
Built this city we built this city on rock an' roll
Say you don't know me or recognize my face
Say you don't care who goes to that kind of place
Knee deep in the hoopla sinking in your fight
Too many runaways eating up the night
BRIDGE
Marconi plays the mamba listen to the radio
Don't you remember
We built this city we built this city on rock an' roll
REPEAT CHORUS
Someone's always playing corporation games
Who cares they're always changing corporation names
We just want to dance here someone stole the stage
They call us irresponsible write us off the page
REPEAT BRIDGE
REPEAT CHORUS
It's just another Sunday in a tired old street
Police have got the choke hold oh and we just lost the beat
Who counts the money underneath the bar
Who rides the wrecking ball into our guitars
Don't tell us you need us 'cos we're just simple fools
Looking for America crawling through your schools
(I'm looking out over that Golden Gate bridge
Out on a gorgeous sunny Saturday I've seen that bumper-to-bumper traffic)
Don't you remember (remember)
(Here's your favorite radio station in your favorite radio city
The city by the bay the city that rocks the city that never sleeps)
REPEAT BRIDGE
REPEAT CHORUS TWICE
(We built we built this city) built this city (we built we built this city)
REPEAT TO FADE
song performed by by Jefferson Starship
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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They Came From Distant Places
They came from distant places to this far southern shore
The men who built the city at rest forever more
Some of them could not speak the language but they were strong and young
And they were willing workers and their praises ought be sung
The men who built the city their grandchildren old today
They worked hard to support their wives and families from their old homeland far away
They built the factories, homes and railways and they worked hard for their pay
The men who built the city for years with Nature lay
No monument built to them no last post for them played
For the men who built the city there was never a parade
Only their direct descendants would have heard of them by name
To be honest and hard working is never a claim to fame
The men who built the city their praises remain unsung
And today their grandchildren are not what one would call young.
poem by Francis Duggan
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City Of Beggars
The sky is always blue in the city of beggars
There is not much green in the city of beggars
There are buildings being built so fast in the city of beggars
In every corner that you encounter
The city of beggars are growing so fast
And in the city of beggars lives 30 million people
The air is not that good in the city of beggars
Because of the factories and the cars
The city of beggars never sleep
The noise goes on 24 hours a day
It is not safe to walk in the street of beggars
Because you can get robbed and killed at any time of the night or day
The traffic is chaotic in the city of beggars
Thanks God there is no snow in the city of beggars
poem by Aldo Kraas
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We Shouldn't Have
We shouldn’t have built this place
We shouldn’t have welcomed the lights
Of the city
But instead we built this place
Instead we welcomed the lights
Of the city, the city
We shouldn’t have built this place
We shouldn’t have figured that time
Was eternity
But instead we built this place
Instead we figured that time
Was eternity, eternity
We shouldn’t have built this place
We should have listened to our neighbors
When they told us to stop
But instead we built this place
We didn’t listen to them
When they told us to stop
We shouldn’t have built this place
We should have understood that the world
Was a luxury
But instead we built this place
We just couldn’t understand that the world
Was a luxury
Tropical City
Speak to me of youth, and breezes warmed by the sun
The breezes that falter down cool alleys
In the city built in the sun
Speak to me of flower vendors, and the beggar boys that run
The old ones who stagger through dusty roads
Of a city built in the sun
And I'll tell you of a hundred days when I wished all was well
Of the hours passed in fantasies
When my mind on thoughts would dwell
On greatest trains and rains and sounds of cricket games being won
of lotuses flames and evenings
In the city built in the sun
poem by Vera Sidhwa
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The Twin Towers
September 11,2001
The Twin Towers©
I was built of steel, I was built of stone,
I was built by men of flesh and bone.
They built me strong they built me tall,
A symbol of strength for one and all.
And from my ramparts you could see,
The city of modernity.
Thousands came and gazed in awe,
All marveled at what they saw.
Commerce was my bailiwick,
I helped the world when it was sick.
My congregations came from afar,
They made their fortunes and were my star.
All races, creeds, and religions were,
Under my roof all equal without a slur.
But things are not always as simple as they seem,
For sometimes men, can be obscene.
Then one fine day when the sun shone strong,
Something came that did not belong.
Some men of flesh and blood and bone,
Sent planes with fuel and speed alone.
They hit me once, they hit me twice,
Fires burned and I was filled with strife.
I tried to stand I tried to mend,
But it all was futile in the end.
I once was strong I once was tall,
Till one day I became nothing at all.
poem by Everett Lautin
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Top Of The City
One more step to the top of the city
Where just a couple of pigeons are living
Up on the angels shoulders
I dont know if Im closer to heaven but
It looks like hell down there
These streets have never been paved with gold
Welcome to the loneliest city in the world
Its no good for you baby
Its no good for you now
Keep looking up for the ladder
I dont know if youll love me for it
But I dont think we should suffer this
Theres just one thing we can do about it
Take me up to the top of the city
Take me up to the top of the city
Take me up to the top of the city
And put me up on the angels shoulders
See how that building there is nearly built
Theres a big fire over on the north of the city
I see you walking down the street with her
I see your lights going on and off
Shes no good for you baby
Shes no good for you now
Look Im here with the ladder
I dont know if you love me or not
But I dont think we should ever suffer
Theres just one thing we can do about this
Take me up to the top of the city
Take me up to the top of the city
Up to the highest point of the city
One more step to the top of the city
Put me up on the angels shoulders
And I dont mind if its dangerous
I dont mind if its raining
Take me up to the top of the city
And put me up on the angels shoulders
Take me up to the top of the city
Mmm yes, one more step to the top of the city
And put me up on the angels shoulders
song performed by by Kate Bush
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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A City Laid Waste
Beyond the horizon
A wasteland I see
All grey and barren
A shadow of what it was once to be
What a strange sight i see
Beyond these dunes of grey
A girl ever so young in ragged clothes fade to grey
A whisper in the breeze was all that was left
Of a beggar's silent dream
Is that a city i see
Beyond the horizon
Or a shadow of what it was once to be
A minstrel's song lingers on
To tell of a city it had once been
Greed
Anger
Lust
The ruins of a city ruined by sins
Insidious as it is
It is all it can ever be
By the hands of man a city built
By the same hands the city lay waste
In all its glory
Amidst it dust is where it lies
poem by Iskandar Zulqarnain Muhamad
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Built For Comfort
By willie james dixon
Arr. by howlin wolf (chester arthur burnett)
Some folk built like this, some folk built like that
But the way Im built, you shouldnt call me fat
Because Im built for comfort, I aint built for speed
But I got everything all the good girls need
I dont have no diamond, and I dont have no gold
But Ive got a lot of lovin and I want you to know
That Im built for comfort, I aint built for speed
But I got everything all the good girls need
Some folk built like this, some folk built like that
But the way Im built, you shouldnt call me fat
Because Im built for comfort, I aint built for speed
But I got everything all the good girls need
Some folk rip and roar, some folk blieve in signs
But if you want me, you got to take your time
Because Im built for comfort, I aint built for speed
But I got everything all the good girls need
But I got everything all the good girls need
I ... I love you baby
I ... I love you baby
But I got everything all of the good girls need
And I dont got no diamonds, dont have no gold
Got a lot of lovin to satisfy your soul
Im built for comfort, I aint built for speed
But I got everything all the good girls need
(lyrics as recorded in 1968 for the howlin wolf album)
song performed by by Ufo
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Memory and Oblivion
When all is lost, there is still a memory
From which a new city can be built in a new world.
Those with memory will be wealthy.
Oblivion cures the old wounds, and you must agree,
There is only the past and the future on the path;
When all is lost, there is still a memory.
Memory will save oblivion from a bad reverie;
When the new city is built, it will be an abode,
Bestowed by those with memory to make others wealthy.
Before the temple, in the middle of the city,
Keepers of the fire all abided.
When all is lost, there is still a memory.
Fire will be born from night to be
New light when all knowledge is swallowed
And those with memory will be wealthy.
A new rose will bloom from the dark sea,
A city revived from memory and abroad;
When all is but a memory, there is still memory.
Those with memory will be wealthy.
poem by Dejan Stojanovic
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Welcome To Sleazy Town
One hand on the controller
One hand on the re-wind
You can even watch it all in slow mo
cos you just sit at home all day
Now you got plenty of time
If you want some real live action
And the videos too tame
If you wanna touch some heat
But you dont know how to light that flame
If you want some satisfaction
Instead of studying the freeze frame
I used to have this spot on main street
It was bounding, it was hot
It was dark, it was dirty
But dull it was not
The joint was jumping every night
But now its just a parking lot
This city was cruel
This city was keen
This city was alive
This city was mean
Till the office blocks and parking lots
Came and closed this city down
I could stand outside
The kids hung round
And the neon sign said
Welcome to sleazy town
Welcome to sleazy town
Sleazy, sleazy town
Everybody hung loose
It was cool and easy
People used to meet and have a good time
Down in sleazy town, sleazy town, sleazy town, sleazy town
Then the corporations came along
And bought this piece of ground
The leases all went up
And so the buildings all came down
They built the motorways and shopping malls
And they killed off sleazy town
This city was cool
This city was keen
This city was alive
This city was till the office blocks and parking lots
Came and closed this city down
I could stand outside, the kids hung round
And the neon sign said
Welcome to sleazy town
Welcome to sleazy town, sleazy, sleazy town
City hall killed off that scene
Now sleazy town is just a dream
song performed by by Kinks
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Ending In Tragedy
I tried to save us
But little did I know
Your a speeding train off track
With little time to go
I tired everything
Tried so hard to let you know
But know Im on my last thread
Pulling away to no avail
Yeah
Now its our time
Yeah
Now its our time
And I'll see you on the other side
Beneath all your skin
Theres another side to you
You built up city walls so I
Can never get through
You built up city walls so I
Can never get through
Yeah
Now its our time
Yeah
Now its our time
And I'll see you on the other side
Why would I take it too far
With not thinking
About the end at all
If a fortune could say
What the furture will bring
Then im not conviced
Its ending in tragedy
And most of all
Its in my control
To end it all
Now its our time
Yeah
Now its our time
And I'll see you on the other side
Now its our time
yeah
Now its our time
And I'll see you on the other side
song performed by by New Found Glory
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I Will Escape
I will escape from the built-up city
To the countryside,
Where all around is so pretty
And the fields are green and wide.
I will escape from the traffics and smog
To the nature’s lyrics and a croaking frog.
I will escape from concrete and power lines
To the breathtaking lights and signs,
To the place where field bells ring
And free birds merrily sing;
To the forest where trees are attractive
And are not a city’s captive.
I will listen to the voice of nature
And my life will be a great adventure.
I will walk barefoot to feel the land,
I will touch a stream with my hand.
My joy will have no measures,
Knowing that the world is full of treasures.
I will escape from the bustle of the city
To the wildflowers which look so friendly,
Where the sky is so bright and clean
And I feel myself like in a dream.
And when the night comes,
The starry sky has so much charms,
An internal balance will feel my heart
As our Earth’s nature is really smart.
©Larisa Rzhepishevska
9th of May,2011
poem by Larisa Rzhepishevska
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The Builders Of The City
You never will find their names on a memorial wall
And any memories of them historians never do recall
The builders of the City who lay with the unsung
Many of them came from distant shores and spoke in a foreign tongue
They more than earned every penny that they were ever paid
The builders of the City yet little of their achievements made
Devoted to the family and devoted to the wife
They worked hard so their children could enjoy a better life,
The builders of the City so much to them we owe
Though nothing written about them and of them little we do know
They built the housing estates, City buildings and City Mall
Though nothing of their life achievements is ever made at all
They lay the rail tracks to the City and made the Roadways through the Countryside
Yet in the builders of the City we never do take pride.
poem by Francis Duggan
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A Worker Reads History
Who built the seven gates of Thebes?
The books are filled with names of kings.
Was it the kings who hauled the craggy blocks of stone?
And Babylon, so many times destroyed.
Who built the city up each time? In which of Lima's houses,
That city glittering with gold, lived those who built it?
In the evening when the Chinese wall was finished
Where did the masons go? Imperial Rome
Is full of arcs of triumph. Who reared them up? Over whom
Did the Caesars triumph? Byzantium lives in song.
Were all her dwellings palaces? And even in Atlantis of the legend
The night the seas rushed in,
The drowning men still bellowed for their slaves.
Young Alexander conquered India.
He alone?
Caesar beat the Gauls.
Was there not even a cook in his army?
Phillip of Spain wept as his fleet
was sunk and destroyed. Were there no other tears?
Frederick the Greek triumphed in the Seven Years War.
Who triumphed with him?
Each page a victory
At whose expense the victory ball?
Every ten years a great man,
Who paid the piper?
So many particulars.
So many questions.
poem by Bertolt Brecht
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This House
(nile rodgers)
This house is built
On a foundation of love
This house is built
On a foundation of love
Our toys are in the attic baby
Pictures on the wall
We can see our memories
From the days past in the mirror
Down the hall, oh yeah
Our love will survive in our own little paradise
So inspired, so inspired
Palatial it may not be
But its a home and a castle to me
A dream from a magazine
And well never give it up cause
This house is built
On a foundation of love
This house is built
On a foundation of love
Ill try to comfort you baby
You try to comfort me yeah
I know you love me
With all your heart, oh yeah
cause you say you do
You know that when you are sad
Ill be there in a flash
At the drop of a hat, oh yeah
cause I want you to feel love
And you dont have to say a thing
You dont have to ask, cause baby
This house is built
On a foundation of love
This house is built
On a foundation of love
Maybe well strike it rich
One day really make it big
And I know because our love is so strong
Well always have a home
This house is built
On a foundation of love
This house is built
On a foundation of love
This house is built
On a foundation of love
This house is built
On a foundation of love
This house is built
On a foundation of love
This house is built
On a foundation of love
song performed by by Diana Ross
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Welcome
Prince of the race whose Empire is the Sea,
We welcome thee!
Thy ensign floats above our harbour-mouth.
A fairy’s hand
Has decked the great Queen City of the South.
By arch and roof, in bannered street and stand,
The vast crowd waits.
The cannon thunder greeting from the strand.
But in our hearts a deeper note vibrates—
The loving welcome of a loyal land.
’Tis the same race that from the iron North
Went faring forth,
Flying the flag of England at the fore;
Nor saw again
The masted city, with its ceaseless roar,
The flower-flecked meadow and the leafy lane,
The steepled hill,
Or ivied ruin rising from the plain,
But for a sign that they remembered still,
Built Greater Britains over all the main.
For thee, and her who comes with thee to grace
Our land and race,
Five million hearts beat with a welcome leal,
North, South and West.
Not in a day was built this Commonweal!
Slow, with our lives, we built it; nor confes’t
How stern our fears,
Thro’ drought and flood, in fever and unrest.
Its tale: the courage of laborious years.
And for a seal: the life-blood of our best.
Is she not fair whose morning thrills the East?
Youngest, not least,
Of all those Britains that one isle has sown,
One faith impearled
In world-wide union. We can hold our own—
’Gainst us in vain all envious shafts are hurled
If still we be
The Sons of Freedom, ’neath one flag unfurled,
Co-heirs of Fame and Wardens of the Sea,
One tongue, one race, one heart before the world!
poem by George Essex Evans
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Tale of Three Cities
New York blasted London blasted
Singapore -
Ripped off each other's metaphoric balls,
Crumbling walls.
Priapic city monoliths -
Blue-sky scraping bastards -
Shout about their height (but really length) .
V8 arseholes didn't care -
Pumping shit into the air,
So long as they were always there to
Fart aloud a smoggy cloud,
Laughing at the weak asthmatic,
Humoured that it seems traumatic.
Watch the greedy cities oozing
Chair-bound fat committees, though they
Look a bunch of titties as they
Waffle on about the pound.
Ever thought to look around and see
That they were dead?
Copyright © Mark R Slaughter 2010
city city city city city city
city city city city city city
city city city city city city
city city city city city city
city city city city city city
city city city city city city
poem by Mark R Slaughter
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I've spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don't know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace, a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity, and if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That's how I saw it and see it still.
quote by Ronald Reagan
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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