Train Window
Small towns
Crawling out of their green shirts…
Tubercular towns
Coughing a little in the dawn…
And the church…
There is always a church
With its natty spire
And the vestibule—
That's where they whisper:
Tzz-tzz… tzz-tzz… tzz-tzz…
How many codes for a wireless whisper—
And corn flatter than it should be
And those chits of leaves
Gadding with every wind?
Small towns
From Connecticut to Maine:
Tzz-tzz… tzz-tzz…tzz-tzz…
poem by Lola Ridge

Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Related quotes
The Best Way To Avoid Publicity
The best way to avoid publicity in small towns,
Especially...
Where there are those who are quick to peek and probe.
Is to pretend to seek it!
That's right.
People living in small towns love to believe,
There are those living amongst them...
Who seek attention.
And there are very few people I know,
Who advocate the advertising for peace of mind.
People living in small towns,
Frown down upon others...
Just on general principle anyway.
Anything that does not conform to limitation,
Is ignored and left alone.
That's why many celebrities and other notables,
Choose these places to live to be shunned and go unnoticed.
And this feeling has a mutual understanding that is respected.
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar

Submitted by Poetry Lover
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One of the cries from the people was, don't forget us. They have a long road ahead of them. Operation Blessing has found those little fishing towns. They will not be getting what other towns are getting from the government.
quote by Connie Sellecca

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Bright Lights
The bright lights are calling me
The bright lights are calling me
When the world is dark and cold
And Im heading down the road
The bright lights are calling me
As the world is round, the road is long
Ive trouble on my mind
Ill just keep on moving
Until the day comes round
The wind a blowing on my back
And my feet a flying
Flying down the road
Where the bright lights shine
Mondays in a pigtown
Tuesdays in a truck
Wednesdays a field of mud
And thursdays out of luck
Fridays rain clouds
Saturday flies by
Sunday comes shining
From a blue blue sky
The bright lights are calling me
The bright lights are calling me
When the world is dark and cold
And Im heading down the road
The bright lights are calling me
Some towns are golden
Some towns are stained
Some towns are shadows
Fading in the rain
Some towns are rust
And some towns they gleam
Some towns are mad dogs
Some towns are a dream
The bright lights are calling me
The bright lights are calling me
When the world is dark and cold
And Im heading down the road
The bright lights are calling me
Some dreams are hollow
Some dreams are cold
Some dreams are crazy
And some dreams are bold
Some dreams are bought
And other dreams are sold
Some dreams lie waiting
At the end of the road
The bright lights are calling me
The bright lights are calling me
When the world is dark and cold
And Im heading down the road
The bright lights are calling me
song performed by by Pogues

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I think in small towns like this one, whether you're a man or a woman, you basically do what there is to do.
quote by Estelle Parsons

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I hate small towns because once you've seen the cannon in the park there's nothing else to do.
quote by Lenny Bruce

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Sex & The Church
Though the idea of compassion
Is said to be
The union of christ
And his bride, the christian
Its all very puzzling
Sex and the church
Sex and the church
Sex and the church
And the church
And the church
All the great mystic religions
Put strong emphasis, on
Redeame this spiritual qualities
Of sex of sex
Chrstianity
Has been pretty modern
About sex
Of sex of sex of sex of sex
Sex and the church
Sex and the church
Sex and the church
Sex sex
I think there is a union
Between the flesh and the spirit
Its sex and the church
Sex and the church
All religions mother
Give me youre freedom of spirit
And the joys of the flesh
Of sex sex sex and the church
Give me youre freedom of spirit
And the joys of the flesh
Of sex sex sex and the church
Sex and the church
Sex and the church
Sex and the church
And the church
And the church
Sex sex
Sex and the church
Sex and the church
Sex and the church
Sex sex
Sex and the church
Sex and the church
Sex and the church
And the church
And the church
Sex sex
Sex and the church
Sex and the church
Sex and the church
Sex sex
Sex
Sex and the church
Sex and the church
Sex and the church
Sex sex
song performed by by David Bowie

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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We set the town on fire and burned down every house as a warning to other small towns along the river.
quote by Knute Nelson

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Ramshackle
You've been so long
Your blind eyes are gone
Your old bones are on their own
So take off your coat
Put a song in your throat
Let the dead-beats pound all around
We will go
Nowhere we know
We don't have to talk at all
Hand me downs
Flypaper towns
Stuck together
One and all
The bargains you drive
Buckets and bags
And all your belongings
Your train's in the sand
Ramshackle land
Let the rats watch the races
We will go
Nowhere we know
'Til we find our one and all
Hand me downs
Flypaper towns
Stuck together
One and all
Praises get spent
Your trick face is bent
Pigsties and prizes
'Cause there's no kind of 'well'
You're suiting yourself
You leave yourself behind
We will go
Nowhere we know
'Til we find our one and all
Your hand me downs
Flypaper towns
Stuck together
One and all
song performed by by Beck from Odelay

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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President Johnson and I have a lot in common. We were both born in small towns and we're both fortunate in the fact that we think we married above ourselves.
quote by Richard M. Nixon

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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It is interesting to be here and to see that for certain actors they have to live in a way that you think of nobody living anymore except for in small towns. They have such elaborate double lives.
quote by Bill Condon

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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These Things
these things that we support most well
have nothing to do with up,
and we do with them
out of boredom or fear or money
or cracked intelligence;
our circle and our candle of light
being small,
so small we cannot bear it,
we heave out with Idea
and lose the Center:
all wax without the wick,
and we see names that once meant
wisdom,
like signs into ghost towns,
and only the graves are real.
Anonymous submission.
poem by Charles Bukowski

Submitted by Poetry Lover
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O Town And City To Down And Pity !
O TOWN AND CITY TO DOWN AND PITY
O towns and cities!
If anything goes amiss
In your arteries and veins
Town would tumble 'down'
And city would be a'pity'!
Even the winds have no knowledge
Of the lanes and by lanes
Of the labyrinthine towns!
Let me tell you,
It is no wonder;
The day is not far off
When city folks buy air in kilos
From supermarkets,
And in their living burrows
Churn it with their electric fans
All through the day
To collect every disease
Named and unnamed!
If you search their addresses,
Better approach the diseases
That would guide you in a flash
To their miserable homes!
Both their homes and minds,
Lo, have shrunk like small mustard!
The bit of the sky that they could see
Is just to the size of their plates!
If peace is the one they dream for
They would never get it even in death!
Oh, everything is topsy-turvy here!
They inhale carbon-di-oxide
And exhale their own life!
--S.CHANDRA KALAADHAR
poem by Sundaram Chandrakalaadhar

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But instead of that stuff you get relationships with people and neighbors that you would never get in a city. People in small towns are a lot more open.
quote by Genevieve Gorder

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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When news of the crash came, probably a lot of people in small towns and farms across America felt a sense of grim satisfaction that the sinners had finally been punished for their wicked ways.
quote by Ron Chernow

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I suppose more than anything, it's the way of life in this part of the country that influences my writing. In Eastern North Carolina, with the exception of Wilmington, most people live in small towns.
quote by Nicholas Sparks

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Effective tools for the successful development of small towns are the creation of new jobs. Where there are no jobs, the city dies.
aphorism by Camelia Oprița (1 May 2011), translated by Camelia Oprița

Submitted by anonym
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When The Wind Blows
When the wind blows, many leaves will fall.
In my mind i see,
When the wind blows, many leaves will fall.
This is an emergency.
In a part of this once-great city
Stands a child crying out in pity.
Gone is hope in the heart of each hungry hour.
Every year in this land of plenty
There are millions of starving children
What will i say if they look my way?
This is an emergency.
When the wind blows, many leaves will fall.
In my mind i see,
When the wind blows, many leaves will fall.
This is an emergency.
Bow your heads to the lost generation
Scars so deep, bringing god's damnation.
Businessmen sip wine while congress argue.
But for grace we enjoy our pleasures
What we face will be our salvation
Go build your towns, but remember time will not forget
That this is an emergency.
When the wind blows, many leaves will fall.
When the wind blows, many leaves will fall.
This is an emergency.
Think of what the wise men said.
When the wind blows, many leaves will fall.
In my mind i see,
When the wind blows, many leaves will fall.
In my mind i see,
When the wind blows, many leaves will fall.
This is an emergency.
song performed by by Kinks

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I meet a lot of young people in the Midwest, and I saw what a difference a show like In the Life can make to their lives in some of these small towns where, you know, there are probably two gay people in the whole damn town.
quote by Lesley Gore

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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With a Multiple and Diverse Agenda
The moment I hear someone gossiped about,
With a name unheard before...
I know immediately that person is making attempts,
To get something done.
And in a small town...
Where the rights and wrongs are tossed around,
That person talked about...
Has to be a new arrival trying to do,
What others refuse or choose not to.
And that is...
Something other than snooping,
In somebody else's business!
With a doing...
Hopefully that person will learn how to do,
In disguise.
Or with a multiple and diverse agenda,
In the getting of 'something' done.
Small minded folks in smaller towns,
Are provoked easily by change.
And anyone expressing intelligence.
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar

Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Call to Arms!
teachers, unite
farmers, unite
carpenters, unite
factory workers, unite
small businessmen, unite
women, unite
families, unite
small towns, unite
neighbors, unite
taxed without representation!
our livelihoods sold, no compensation!
our dignity taken by undignified men!
our freedoms bartered for barrels of oil!
lied to, trodden on, used up!
we're not gonna take it anymore!
it's time for change!
poem by Eric Cockrell

Submitted by Poetry Lover
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