Downtown
Architectural wonders built with lots of power and expertise
Tower above a tamed river touching the clouds with ease
Precise vertical constructions planned by structural engineers
Impressive connotations that have to withstand many years
The river once wild and free now stumbles in its concrete bed
Slowly pushes polluted water void of health and almost dead
Much wealth and progress is sheltered in reinforced concrete
And in the sunlight glass fronts sparkle high above the street
Elevators spit out people mostly dressed in dark suits and ties
While marble tiled hallways swallow footsteps without chastise
Bistro and deli restaurants offer sophisticated menues until five
Thereafter the streets change abruptly and new inhabitants arrive
Void of motions parking lots and garages are now empty and dark
The night settled in with patrol cars lining the outskirts of the park
A man on the corner quotes poetry to his bottle hidden in a bag
And empty city buses park in the terminal under the national flag
The lost and forgotten own the sidewalks during the hours of doom
Some are lucky and get a meal at a shelter in an overcrowded room
Furry critters find discards in trashcans then disappear in the shade
While card board hides the wounded in bedrooms that are handmade
The bail bonds man is open for business located by the police station
Where the sleepless gather discussing the consequences of a violation
The city canalization coughs to the whistle of rusty air condition shafts
And dirty layers of clothing are protecting an old woman from cold drafts
Soon it will be dawn again and the nightly creatures will move aside
When fancy cars arrive from the suburbs like an inevitable new tide
Starbucks will sell hot coffee for the price of a warm bed at the shelter
And the self satisfied suits embrace a new day of stress and swelter
At night the streets will change again keeping the equilibrium in tact
What time will you be downtown and are you sure as a matter of fact
poem by Kristina Louisa Carr
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Related quotes
Santa Fe In Winter
The city is closing for the night.
Stores draw their blinds one by one,
and it's dark again, save for the dim
infrequent streetlight bending at the neck
like a weighted stem. Years have built
the city in layers: balustrades filled in
with brick, adobe reinforced with steel,
and the rounded arches smoothed
with white cement. Neighborhoods
have changed the burro trails
to streets, bare at night—
no pedestrians, no cars, no dogs.
With daylight, the houses turned galleries
and stores turned restaurants open—
the Navajos wrapped in wool
crowd the Palace of the Governors plaza
to sell their handmade blankets,
silver rings, and necklaces
to travelers who will buy jewelry
as they buy everything—
another charming history for themselves.
poem by Deborah Ager
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Another Park, Another Sunday
Tom johnston
Im sittin in my room, Im starin out my window
And I wonder where youve gone
Thinking back on the happy hours just before the dawn
Outside the wind is blowin
It seems to call your name again
Where have you gone
City streets and lonely highways
I travel down
My car is empty and the radio just seems to bring me down
Im just tryin to find me
A pretty smile that I can get into
Its true, Im lost without you
Another lonely park, another sunday
Why is it life turns out that way
Just when you think you got a good thing
It seems to slip away
Its warm outside, no clouds are in the sky
But I need a place to go and hide
I keep it to myself
I dont want nobody else
To see me cryin all those tears in my eyes
Another park, another sunday
Why is it life turns out that way
Just when you think you got a good thing
It seems to slip away
Another park, another sunday
Its dark and empty thanks to you
I got to get myself together
But its hard to do
song performed by by Doobie Brothers
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Summer Night City
Summer night city...
Summer night city...
Waiting for the sunrise, soul dancing in the dark
Summer night city
Walking in the moonlight, love-making in the park
Summer night city
In the sun i feel like sleeping
I can't take it for too long
My impatience slowly creeping
Up my spine and growing strong
I know what's waiting there for me
Tonight i'm loose and fancy-free
Aa-ahhh
When the night comes with the action
I just know it's time to go
Can't resist the strange attraction
From that giant dynamo
Lots to take and lots to give
Time to breathe and time to live
Waiting for the sunrise, soul dancing in the dark
Summer night city
Walking in the moonlight, love-making in the park
Summer night city
It's elusive party feeling
Somehow something turns me on
Some folks only see the middle
We don't miss them when they're gone
I love feeling in the air
My kind of people everywhere
When the night comes with the action
I just know it's time to go
Can't resist the strange attraction
From that giant dynamo
And tomorrow, when it's dawning
And the first birds start to sing
In the pale light of the morning
Nothing's worth remembering
It's a dream, it's out of reach
Scattered driftwood on the beach
Waiting for the sunrise, soul dancing in the dark
Summer night city
Walking in the moonlight, love-making in the park
Summer night city
song performed by by ABBA
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Lost In A Night
During a dark night the streets come to life on their own
Lurking danger is cradled by disciples reigning from a throne
Sirens at midnight echo like the forlorn souls of sinners
When survival is a gamble without disclosing any winners
Subtle like a symphony last rites are spoken in confessions
And the free on the corner burning their worldly possessions
The night train claims its victims slowly in long tiled caves
While the tired indulge in discussions disclosing the brave
The dark night is no longer mysterious like a virgin at dawn
When the river swallows pride and hope with a stifled yawn
Then the bright lights of the windows lead the way like stars
While hiding its inhabitants selling the smoke of Cuban cigars
The words written on billboards have a double meaning now
Because the creatures of the dark are on their nightly prowl
Prisoners lock their chains tightly with allegiance and lies
Drinking the wine from silver goblets being newly baptized
Yellow plastic tape reveals scenes of old crimes committed
While diseases make room for blistering wounds omitted
High black boots over nylon protect from the icy rain
Worn by smiling creatures in costumes lined in naked pain
Silent screams dance slowly to the rhythms of electric guitars
When warm blood runs over the edges of newly inflicted scars
In hotel rooms illusions are buried in caskets with iron doors
While illuminated casinos are the new twenty-four hour stores
Dancers dressed in grey asphalt park the ruins of rusty cars
And the nightly sounds of celebrations travel from behind bars
Initiating new battles with alibis originated in secrets drowned
The coroner is collecting rewards on frozen common ground
The children of tomorrow now veterans of wars and extortion
Face the black night losing dreams with an habitual abortion
© 2011
poem by Kristina Louisa Carr
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
The Downtown Lights
Sometimes I walk away
When all I really wanna do
Is love and hold you right
There is just one thing I can say
It's all right, can't you see
The downtown lights
In love we're all the same
We're walking down an empty street
And with nobody callin' your name
Empty streets, empty nights
The downtown lights
*How do I know you feel it
How do I know you feel it
How do I know you feel it
How do I know it's true
Can't you see
Nobody loves you this way
It's all right
Tonight and every night
Let's go walking down the city streets
Let's walk in the cool evening light
Wrong or right, the endless sight
The downtown lights
It will be all right
It will be all right
The downtown lights
Yeah, yeah, yeah
(*Repeat)
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Downtown lights
The neons and the cigarettes
The rented rooms and rented cars
The crowded streets, the empty bars
Chimneytops, trumpets
The golden lights, the loving prayers
Colored shoes, the empty trains
I'm tired of cryin' on the stairs
Downtown lights
It'll be all right
It'll be all right
song performed by by Rod Stewart
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
New Zealand
An earthquake struck New Zealand's city of Christchurch on Tuesday
Burying vehicles under debris and collapsing buildings into the streets.
Police announced a curfew and city was shut down on Wednesday,
Rescuers scrambled to reach beneath the rubble the residents.
The quake devastating the spire of the Cathedraland is a real tale.
The buildings had collapsed and the people were trapped inside.
All around the city, this powerful earthquake strangely bent some rails, Moreover, it toppled the tall buildings and seventy five people died.
The earthquake combination of distance and depth was so deadly,
Streets were strewn with concrete and people were stuck in towers.
Firefighters climbed ladders to pluck people from roofs to safety.
Buildings have gone because aftershocks hit the city within two hours.
Pre-World War buildings were damaged by the quake on September,
People wandered through streets strewn with debris and concrete.
The further damage was caused by a strong aftershock in December.
Now there is a real carnage with bodies littering the streets..
The women went into premature labor and the city was in agony.
The airport was shut down, in ruins the people began to groan,
Every child has been walking home trying to find the lost family.
The city were suffering cuts to the water supply and the phone.
A thirty million tone block of ice sheared off a glacier of New Zealand
After the earthquake had devastated the city groping it into Dark.
The iceberg crashed into a lake had rocked the South Island
Ripping off the Tasman Glacier at Aoraki Mount Cook National Park.
poem by Marieta Maglas
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
The Void
By Samuel Sweetnam
Cold is the Void
That is what we are not
That is where we are to go
That is what we are to become
Dark is the void
That steals the night
That fills the heart
Of the greedy man
Black is the void
That hides the lost
That feeds the beast
That hunts the good
The void is cold
The void is dark
The void is black
The void is torture
If the void is all
We are to become
Then what is left
Is there no hope?
For one small child
Born one dark night
Among the void
Consuming the night
He brought the life
He brought the hope
Some two thousand years ago
He brought us light
So remember this
My dear friend
Of the babe born
On Christmas morn
He brought the Warm
He brought the light
He brought the Love
Among the night.
poem by Samuel Sweetnam
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Black Night In The City
Darkness in the city is just an indistinct side effect
Protecting what is scary in day light and wrecked
Abandoned buildings become castles during the night
Busy graffiti artists express what is usually out of sight
Billboards illuminate in bright colorful fluorescents
And creatures of the night shuffle on antidepressants
Red lights invite the late traveler to stay for a while
Loneliness and despair develops rapidly being fertile
The sirens of ambulances whisper tales of our mortality
And a lonesome speaker sells questionable spirituality
In the dark there is not just love for sale in the streets
One may purchase modern chemistry without a receipt
The beaming lights of cars blind the searchers outside
While in adult theaters dejected clients trying to hide
Screeching sounds of the metro are disturbing the dark
And only the adventurous and brave walk in the park
At night the tears of the fallen color the river black
And screams drown on the sidewalks holding back
When blood turns to red liquid velvet like altar wine
I own the shadows in my city and the black night is mine
© 2011
poem by Kristina Louisa Carr
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Song of the Night Woman
Empty footsteps click across
the wet sidewalk, faceless people pass.
Cabs honk by and splash the feet
where hookers cuss at the curbs of streets.
Empty footsteps come to call
at the creaking doorway down the hall.
In a room that hisses of pungent mold,
the plaster crumbles from mildewed walls.
She waits in a tattered robe of white
on an unkept mattress in the night.
Through the window she hears the worried dog call.
A cat picks up his pointless howl.
He holds on in wild embrace,
he comes a man without a face.
The dollars down from cold embrace,
she turns to the window to hide disgrace.
The empty echo leaves the hall
of shadowed footsteps as they fall.
Away and further into dark,
two lovers embrace in the park.
LaClaire Mitchell-Nzerem (Cader Publishing, first pub (review magazine July 27-July 16,1990 pg.11) .
poem by LaClaire mitchell nzerem
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
City Streets
The gaudy glow of neon lights
dispels the darkness of the nights
on city streets.
They pop and fizzle noisily
creating a cacophony
on city streets.
The sober folks walk warily
and drunks stagger uncaringly
on city streets.
The ladies of the night parade
for there is money to be made
on city streets.
Drug dealers ready to retreat
if they should hear a coppers feet
on city streets.
The night shift workers wend their way
towards their work to start their day
on city streets.
The noisy revellers thin out
as one by one the signs go out
on city streets.
The gradually noises abate
and ghostly shadow congregate
on city streets.
For some few hours peace will reign
before the noise will start again
on city streets.
The early morning traffic sounds
start with the milkmen on their rounds
on city streets.
This builds up to an angry roar
as cars and lorries inward pour
on city streets
then when at last rush hour has passed
noise levels will subside at last
on city streets
I thank the lord that I am free
to leave this noise far behind me
on city streets.
I walked my beat the whole night
through exactly as I’m paid to do
on city streets.
I choose to live outside the town
where constant noise won’t get me down
on city streets.
My village is a quiet place
A haven where I need not face
the noisy streets.
8-Jun-07
poeticpiers
poem by Ivor Or Ivor.e Hogg
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
New York Minute
Harry got up
Dressed all in black
Went down to the station
And he never came back
They found his clothing
Scattered somewhere down the track
And he wont be down on wall street
In the morning
He had a home
The love of a girl
But men get lost sometimes
As years unfold
One day he crossed some line
And he was too much in this world
But I guess it doesnt matter anymore
In a new york minute
Everything can change
In a new york minute
Things can get pretty strange
In a new york minute
Everything can change
In a new york minute
Lying here in the darkness
I hear the sirens wail
Somebody going to emergency
Somebodys going to jail
If you find somebody to love in this world
You better hand on tooth and nail
The wolf is always at the door
In a new york minute
Everything can change
In a new york minute
Things can get a little strange
In a new york minute
Everything can change
In a new york minute
And in these days
When darkness falls early
And people rush home
To the ones they love
You better take a fools advice
And tak care of your own
One day theyre here;
Next day theyre gone
I pulled my coat around my shoulders
And took a walk down through the park
The leaves were falling around me
The groaning city in the gathering dark
On some solitary rock
A desperate lover left his mark,
baby, Ive changed. please come back.
What the head makes cloudy
The heart makes very clear
The days were so much brighter
In the time when she was here
But I know theres somebody somewhere
Make these dark clouds disappear
Until that day, I have to believe
I believe, I believe
In a new york minute
Everything can change
In a new york minute
You can get out of the rain
In a new york minute
Everything can change
In a new york minute
song performed by by Eagles
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
New York Minute
Harry got up
Dressed all in black
Went down to the station
And he never came back
They found his clothing
Scattered somewhere down the track
And he wont be down on wall street
In the morning
He had a home
The love of a girl
But men get lost sometimes
As years unfurl
One day he crossed some line
And he was too much in this world
But I guess it doesnt matter anymore
In a new york minute
Everything can change
In a new york minute
Things can get pretty strange
In a new york minute
Everything can change
In a new york minute
Lying here in the darkness
I hear the sirens wail
Somebody going to emergency
Somebodys going to jail
If you find somebody to love in this world
You better hang on tooth and nail
The wolf is always at the door
In a new york minute
Everything can change
In a new york minute
Things can get a little strange
In a new york minute
Everything can change
In a new york minute
And in these days
When darkness falls early
And people rush home
To the ones they love
You better take a fools advice
And take care of your own
One day theyre here;
Next day theyre gone
I pulled my coat around my shoulders
And took a walk down through the park
The leaves were falling around me
The groaning city in the gathering dark
On some solitary rock
A desperate lover left his mark,
Baby, Ive changed. please come back.
What the head makes cloudy
The heart makes very clear
The days were so much brighter
In the time when she was here
But I know theres somebody somewhere
Make these dark clouds disappear
Until that day, I have to believe
I believe, I believe
In a new york minute
Everything can change
In a new york minute
You can get out of the rain
In a new york minute
Everything can change
In a new york minute
song performed by by Don Henley
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Holloween poem
She loves to move alone over cold water,
She knows to move over the dark, cold water;
She loves to toss a coin into the cold, dark water,
To know it is lost beneath the water,
To later know it alone beneath the dark water.
Under the city, in the dark,
Water flows over perpetual rock.
She knows her tower above the city,
She loves to hover over the city, to see
The marrow pulse and glow, she knows
The death moan of the city, how it jewles,
How it counts, how it stretches over the shuttered provinces,
To the farthest border.
Under the city, in the dark,
Water flows over perpetual rock.
She is a ghost in the air, an Ariel;
She tells the screamers till there is silence,
She silences the wolf and the seal, the fouled horse;
She stares the hollow to remorse, to
Recall the cold, the dark, she loves
To move alone with the dark, cold water.
Under the silk-crack, the skyscape,
Under the cry-field, the tool room,
Under the city, in the dark,
Water flows over perpetual rock
poem by Rozen Maiden
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
In My City
In my city the sky can cry all night;
In my city the streets can whine all night;
In my city people die all the time;
In my city, boi, in my city...
In my city, boi, God is forgotten;
people follow religion, their minds are rotten.
People kill for money, die 'cause of money,
banks spend our money, and find it funny.
Kids drink till they forget, they forget till they drink;
it's Apocalypse now, we're way past the brink...
it's a theatrical city, everyone's an actor,
everyone's waitin for next great disaster.
'I would kill for a phone' ain't just an expression,
it's more of a statement - kids full of agression.
kids full of the city, like the city's full of kids,
but they're workin on it - they're killin all the kids...
In my city the sky can cry all night;
In my city the streets can whine all night;
In my city people die all the time;
In my city, boi, in my city...
I'm a Silesian boy who moved to Tottenham,
I'm a Tottenham boy who'll always love London,
I'm a London boy who's Silesia-born,
and my people will be free - so go on, sound the horn!
Exile like Chopin, likewise keeps hoping,
Exile from Home, but somehow I'm coping...
I wasn't bought or sold, jus brought and told
you're gonna study here, and live here - be bold!
so I let my heart turn cold, f- it, why care?
carin never really got us anywhere...
nothing's holdin me back, so come and hold me back,
I ain't no ref, but I change the rules like Shaq.
it's time to speak of feelin, son, you're insecure,
that's why you want the finest chic, but she ain't the cure,
you want the fastest cars, you want the longest chain,
but none of that bulls- will take away the pain...
poem by Patryk Krzywon
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
There are people
There are people
that claims the street as their own
and stand
at parking places on the sidewalk
and do no work
but to look after cars.
If you park there
and ignore them
and do not
want to use their services
you immediately
become a racist in their eyes
and they will make a scene,
threaten to damage your car,
or make sure that it’s stolen
or so they tell you
since they believe
that you owe them something.
Some spray soapy water
without invitation
on the front window
of your car
when you stop
at a traffic light
and wipe it off
demanding a price.
I wonder why the education
is still lacking
since they have already
got their liberation
and just as odd
these people are ignored
by their compatriots in government
as if they do not exist,
while the country
falls slowly
but surely to pieces.
There are people
that claims the possessions
of others as their own
and at night
prowl around in the streets
shooting, stabbing
and robbing
and estranging people
from their cars.
l’Envoi
Still I wonder where
the problem lies
and would really like
both of my cars back
and I do not know
about white people
that sneak around
in black neighbourhoods at night,
hijack cars,
brake windows
and demand possessions
with loaded guns.
All that they do,
is try to make a living
or hurry away in their leaving.
{Reference: “First liberation, then education.” Political slogan of the ruling party.]
poem by Gert Strydom
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Heat In The City
Bumper to bumper traffic in the heat of the city
The air is thick and dusty full of smog and gritty
Dirty Yellow Cabs contributing to noisy confusion
While a hot dog stand on the corner sells profusion
The pavement is sticky reflecting the heat in waves
Throughout cars are swallowed by hot asphalt graves
Overcrowded busses spit out passengers one by one
While temperatures are rising with an unforgiving sun
Vegetables and fruits for sale covered in dirt and grime
On the sidewalks of the city bait flies in the mean time
People rushing downstairs to the Metro escaping the heat
Only realizing that it is just as bad and by far no retreat
A broken fire hydrant provides the illusion of cool relieve
But only street children bathe in the grey water taking leave
A lonely traffic cop damp with perspiration looks atrocious
Hot sweaty faces wait for his signal resentful and ferocious
Curriers on bikes with sunburns between cars are speeding
Steaming masses waiting for the light before proceeding
The smells of the hot city are overpowering and very strong
Torturing its inhabitants without sense of right and wrong
poem by Kristina Louisa Carr
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Vacancy, For Rent
walking the streets
of a small southern town...
empty buildings, empty houses,
'vacancy, for rent'
no one moving much,
even the church parking lots
are empty.... seems like
Jesus and His disciples
packed up, and moved on...
probably looking for work!
only a sense of quiet despair,
the sound of old cars rusting,
and the howling of a dog.
just read the news:
an elderly couple, married
67 years, murder suicide...
he'd been sick, she had
alzheimer's.... afraid there'd
be no one to take care of her...
another unmarked grave,
forgotten people, abandoned
by their own government.....
another empty house that
used to be a home...
'vacancy, for rent.'
just walking the streets
of a small southern town...
church bells are ringing...
and the smell of death
hangs in the air!
poem by Eric Cockrell
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
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
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
I Walk A Nameless River
I walk a nameless river
One which collects water from the houses,
The streets and such,
A river of rain that carry small sticks,
Cigarettes butts and, bits of paper
A shadow river that moves pap like rocks
A river trapped in the street cars’ tracks
A river rushing past ants and praying mantises
Against butterflies and worms that comes up and leave
Body tracks in the mud.
A river fed by puddles and cracks; indents in the sidewalks
By downward slanted driveways and situated front yards
By small streams on window glass and streams down sycamore trucks,
Maple, oak and such.
A cleaning river of gutterized rain,
A leaf drooping rain of green things,
River of no name
Too thin to carry twigs
Easily distracted by my foot
Easily stagnated into a nameless pond
When the sky has dried out.
I walk a one street river
A shallow river of clinched fists
A narrow river of butterflies in the nameless sky
A concrete river of feet saturated against the maple rocks
A river of bodies coming up leaving a river of cracks
A river of cigarettes of worms of sycamore trunks, oak
Marble and such.
A thin river of destruction, of gutters and traped tracks
Of sticks collected among themselves like dead praying mantises
In the rush of houses and driveways stacked in the water
Of a small rainy sky.
poem by David E. Patton
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Ballad for the Forgotten Workers
down by the river, down on the street,
past the empty factory buildings,
smokestacks that no longer smoke.
past the run down tenements,
past the vacant store fronts.
to fires that dont burn, and...
...engines that dont stroke.
down the road, leaving the city behind,
there's miles and miles of fields,
stone silent and turning brown.
tractors rusting in the sun,
a bucket by the well...
old house lies empty, falling down.
the sea of hands lost forever;
red and white, brown, and black.
headstones in the parking lots,
but they're never coming back.
built your cities, built your country,
plowed your fields, fed your hungry.
thrown away in your quest for power...
but their names mark the hours!
(steel workers, no more steel!
teachers, no more books!
farmers in the food lines,
no carpenters, no cooks.
cotton mills moved to Asia,
we cant even make tables and chairs.
no time clocks and no paychecks, ...
... nobody really cares!)
poem by Eric Cockrell
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!