A Man From The Slum District
ı a m a man from a slum district
my pockets are empty and moneyı ess
in obligation
ı am a member of a fake syndicate
in the factory ı work as a laborer
ı f open my mouth
and talk against my bosses
ı will be booted and fired
find myself in the streets
ı am a man nfrom a slum district
my struggle with others is obligatary
to survive
ı drink wine which kills a dog
ı am screaming all night in the streets
against alll these
with the night watches guarding me
ı am a man from a slum district
my badly cladding is also obligatory
in beyoglu
policemen strolling..watching and batoning me
sometimes to death
ı am a man from a slum district
ı f ı touch others' wind they lick me and bruise me
my love affairs are unjust and obligatory too
fathers are on watch in front of their houses
if ı look at a girl or even gaze at their daughters
it will be the cause of the many murders
Yusuf HAYALOGLU.....Translation Metin Ş AHİ N
poem by Metin Sahin
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Related quotes
Slum Dance
I go out of my way today
Just so I can dance the slum dance
With the poor people that live in the slum
Because they love to dance the slum dance
With other people
And they get very excited when they have other people
To dance the slum dance with
There is a fine weather in the sky
Where the slum is
Also in the slum there is no clean water to drink
But they have no choice rather than to drink the dirty water full of flies And mosquitoes
poem by Aldo Kraas
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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I Walked Last Night In A District I Lived In For Almost Twenty Years
I WALKED LAST NIGHT IN A DISTRICT I LIVED IN FOR ALMOST TWENTY YEARS
I walked last night in a district I lived in for almost twenty years
I came back after being away for a time
To visit an old and ailing friend
The streets were empty and lonely as they often were then-
I thought for the first time I understood how lonely the district itself is-
‘A lonely district’
I wondered how I managed to live there all those years
And how anyone still manages to live there-
I looked up at the sky and wrote in my mind a small poem of a kind I wrote many of in my years there
I remembered teachers and friends who had lived there
No longer of this district or any district on earth
I wondered how life goes and how from so many years so much life has been lived without having any place in my memory
I felt as empty inside as the district without
I did not have to wait long for the bus
And relieved inside it I put my heart to home
So many years had been lived there
I remembered taking my small children to the playground there
Now they thank G-d have children of their own
Oh the years go by and the life we have lived in them largely dies
Forever to be unknown again-
I put my heart and mind in a different direction
And began to do what I always do – not think of the district again
Life is this mystery and question we live through and never wholly possess even as we are experiencing it
How long before all will be gone for me
Including the district I live in now?
poem by Shalom Freedman
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Second-hand Car Spiv
Sung by spiv, flash & floosies
Spiv: I was born a slum gutter infantile,
Brute-force educated, delinquent juvenile.
I am a product of mass produced factory fodder,
Streets full of tenement blocks, rat infested filth and squalor.
I left school, went straight on the dole
And unemployments no enjoyment,
Welfare state owned my mind and my body and my soul.
So I worked my way up to be a second-hand car spiv,
But dont judge me harshly because Im just a slum kid.
I built up my business with a quick wit and fist,
So dont double-cross me or my hoods will dissect you
With their black jacks and shiv.
Slum kids never get a break, theyve got to fight their way up.
Wheel and deal, beg and steal,
Sweat blood to earn a buck.
I didnt want to work on the factory floor,
I wasnt content, I wanted more
Than to be a slave of a lathe,
Work all day and go home bored.
So a second- hand car spiv was what I became.
I built an empire because I used my brains.
Chorus: he was a second-hand car spiv up from the slums,
So dont judge him harshly because hes just a slum kid.
Then he moved into property, stocks and shares,
Spiv: and into high finance and youve got to agree
That running a multi-million corporation
Sure beats selling cars second-hand.
Chorus: once he sold old worn out heaps to the punters on the street,
Spiv: now Im in control of the country as a whole,
And the world is at my feet.
Chorus: the world is at his feet.
Spiv: power, power, Ive got power oozing out of me,
And when you think of all the things Ive done
It says a lot for one
Who worked his way up from the streets.
Yes Im a second-hand car spiv.
Do a deal, buy and sell,
Its my trade, I know it well.
Make a sale, ring the bell
And let the suckers go to hell.
Bank the profits, count the change
Another sucker comes your way.
Life is a crooked game,
And slum kids never change.
song performed by by Kinks
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I know the district. I know a lot of people in the district. I know how to get where I'm going.
Slum Kids (take 1)
Were just slum kids, and we know it,
And we never stood a chance.
We were dragged up from the gutter,
From the wrong side of the tracks.
So how dare you criticize,
When you dont know what its like
To be dragged up from the gutter,
From the wrong side of the tracks.
Why do rich kids get all the breaks,
While the poor slum kids have to work, sweat, struggle and slave?
Why, lord, theres so much injustice in this world?
Slum kids never stand a chance.
Look at all the slum kids all around you,
Oh, they never stood a chance.
We were dragged up from the gutter,
From the wrong side of the tracks.
Why do rich kids get all the breaks,
While the poor slum kids have to work, sweat, struggle and slave?
Why, lord, theres so much injustice in this world?
Slum kids never stand a chance.
Look at all the slum kids all around you,
Oh, they never stood a chance.
We were dragged up from the gutter,
From the wrong side of the tracks.
So how dare you criticize,
When you dont know what its like
To be dragged up from the gutter,
From the wrong side of the tracks.
song performed by by Kinks
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Slum Kids
Were just slum kids, and we know it,
And we never stood a chance.
We were dragged up from the gutter,
From the wrong side of the tracks.
So how dare you criticize,
When you dont know what its like
To be dragged up from the gutter,
From the wrong side of the tracks.
Why do rich kids get all the breaks,
While the poor slum kids have to work, sweat, struggle and slave?
Why, lord, theres so much injustice in this world?
Slum kids never stand a chance.
Look at all the slum kids all around you,
Oh, they never stood a chance.
We were dragged up from the gutter,
From the wrong side of the tracks.
Why do rich kids get all the breaks,
While the poor slum kids have to work, sweat, struggle and slave?
Why, lord, theres so much injustice in this world?
Slum kids never stand a chance.
Look at all the slum kids all around you,
Oh, they never stood a chance.
We were dragged up from the gutter,
From the wrong side of the tracks.
So how dare you criticize,
When you dont know what its like
To be dragged up from the gutter,
From the wrong side of the tracks.
song performed by by Kinks
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Tax reform and expanded trade are going to be so important to the economy of Illinois, particularly the 11th Congressional District, which is a major manufacturing and a major agricultural district.
quote by Jerry Weller
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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We have built a genuine level of enthusiasm and goodwill with people throughout this district. People are really excited about the possibilities this election holds, not just for this district, but because of the message Alabama sent to the rest of the country.
quote by Artur Davis
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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A rich queen and a poor king
The handsome threadbare man who struggled in a slum.
I don't know why I loved him and took him to my palace?
I gave an old king's name to bring him to our own society.
This beautiful witch-Queen dragged me to her palace
and given me an ugly name of a Lunatic.
My halcyon slum is a paradise.
The edge of the heavy crown pierced my head
and I never had a sound sleep
since I came to this hell.
poem by Nimal Dunuhinga
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This be the last time we use the phrase 'Slumdog
We, as Indians, have reasons
To be proud of having
Created history by the film
“Slumdog Millionaire”
At the same time, we, as human beings,
Have to have hung our heads for
Having created slums
Slum, as it means
An overcrowded area of a city,
Where the housing is in a very bad condition
And people live in unhygienic conditions
With no basic facilities
And who created slums,
Not the people residing there
But those whose greed has brought
These slum dwellers into these
Unfit-for-living conditions
The technicalities employed in
Filming this movie deserve all praise
While the different ways of living
Of the slum dwellers equally deserve attention
Of the entire human race
For correction and improvement
The film was declared to be
The best-directed
While the slum tribes have no directions
And they have no one to direct
The film was declared to be
The best film
While the slum where the film was shot
Is the worst place
For any human being
Let the recognition of the film
Bring to light the plight of slumdogs
To the fore
And let the human race do everything
Possible to move these people
Out of the slums, wherever they are,
And to help them live a decent, if not better, living
We shall be doing a great service
If this becomes the last ever time
We use this phrase “Slumdog”
poem by Bashyam Narayanan
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Just Another Rhumba
It happened to me
On a trip to the west indies
Oh, Im all at sea
Since that trip to the west indies
Im jittery
Im twittery
I guess Im done for
I guess Im through
And its something about which theres nothing anyone can do
It isnt love
It isnt money trouble
Its a very funny trouble:
Its just another rhumba
But it certainly has my numb-bah
So much so, that I cant eat or slum-bah
Can you imagine anything dumb-bah?
Why did I have to plan a
Vacation in havana?
Why did I take that trip
That made me lose my grip?
Oh! that piece of music laid me low
There it goes again:
Just another rhumba
Which I heard only last septum-bah
Im a wreck, why did I have to succumb-bah
Can you imagine anything dumb-bah?
Why did I have to succumb-bah
To that rhumba?
Ahah, Im the cucaracha, who just went blah
And gave up swinging ha-cha, ahah
Ahah, at first it was devine-ah
But it turned out a cuban frankenstein-ah
Ahah, its got me by the throat-ah!
Oh, whats the antidote-ah?
Ahah, it brought me woe and strife-ah
Oh, wheres a gun or knife-ah?
Its the rhumba that blighted my life
There it goes again:
Just another rhumba
But it certainly has my numb-bah
So much so, that I cant eat or slum-bah
Can you imagine anything dumb-bah?
Why did I have to succumb-bah
To that rhumba?
(instrumental break)
There it goes again:
Just another rhumba
But it certainly has my numb-bah
So much so, that I cant eat or slum-bah
Can you imagine anything dumb-bah?
Why did I have to succumb-bah
To that rhumba?
song performed by by Ella Fitzgerald
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Street Clover(karanfil Sokagi)
all the horizons are held in military barracks
all the four disrections, the sixteen winds
and the seven climates and the five continents
are all underneath the whlte heavy snow
But..we are doomed to meet again
by railway, asphalt roads, highways and by stone roads
but this is my steep roads my foot-path I prefer
Taurus, anti Taurus and the river..the rebelling EUPHRATES
tobacco, cotton, wheat plains and the rice fields,
my country all over, all along suddenly
is uinder the white snow completely
some are still fighting with each other
in this weather
with hands and feet frozen..their hearts hell
hope...regretful and gloomy
hope stubborn and always honest
but drawn back ti the mountains
and also are under the white snows
i know the folk songs under the avalanches
images, statues and the sagas
alll are the masterpieces of skillful hands
the armless, half naked venus
the street trans no name
garic Lorka's grave
the unknown soldier
and the eye apples of madam and monsieur Pierre CURIE
are also under the snow
their walls made uo of hard long lasting stones
the skirts are also under the snow
my longing very delicate to ankara
let the wolves love the misty weather
let walk on the asphalt road the month december
i d o not like that month
very changing and unreliable one
how many times we had counted the days
how many times we longed and waited for warm weather
nobody does not know
my heart, my bosom and my painful love
are also still under the snow
in the slums the weather is unclear and misty
the skies of altindag are covered with clouds cumulus
the children..who gain their living and bread by big bazaar baskets on backs
with lungs little but with big hands
reach to love and love with them and grow
never enough to to warm their palms their breaths
all try to attend to primary schools
and in summer they watch the storks
strolling in open sewage pits
and all the children of the slum districts
are also under the heavy fallen snows
the weather at the other side of the brook hatip is warm
the boulvards are gay and newly awakened in the New City..Yenisehir
an new day has bloomed in the clover street..karanfil sokagi
guess..how i know alll these
the reasons are bare walking on the streets
all the sufficant clues are all naked everywhere in the streets
in the clover street.. a glass covered green house warm and hot
in the greenhouse a china flower-POT
on it a limb of a tree wavers in blues
and a crimson..firefolk folk song gloomy
reaching and hurting the bosoms
but do not take these into consideration..never mind these
though they seem to grow artificially in flower- pots
the roots of them are still in ALTINDAG and in INCESU slum districts
Ahmet ARIF
Translation Metin sahin
poem by Metin Sahin
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Fertile Lands and Mammoth Cheese
In barren district you may meet
Small fertile spot doth grow fine wheat,
There you may find the choicest fruits,
And great, round, smooth and solid roots.
But in conditions such as these
You cannot make a mammoth cheese,
Which will weigh eight thousand pounds,
But where large fertile farms abounds.
Big cheese is synonymous name,
With the fertile district of the Thame,
Here dairy system's understood,
And they are made both large and good.
poem by James McIntyre
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I'm your friend...at the moment
World has turned into strange place
No, it’s a strange place
Friend is foe, foe is family
Enemy becomes ally, ally is their spy
Children forget their roots
Strangers search paradise for far
So pick a side, take a curly turn
In this world madness party
Today’s blue, tomorrow’s red
Today’s true, tomorrow’s not yet
So easily to change, so desperate for range
Loyalty is frail, emotion is strained
Winner becomes poor, poor becomes king
King abduction to slum, slum raises hero
We are scavengers, sneaking for opportunity
Play the game, exchange the ride
Laugh at day, war at night
All stirred in one messy crowded place
So take my hand, I’ll help you now
But watch your back, maybe I’m the one who first to blow
poem by Maria Sudibyo
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Another statistic
i Don't wanna be another statistic
some girl who has no money
who steals to help and support
a girl who has nothing
or no one anymore
i dont wanna be another statistic
some suicidal teen
who has nothing left to live for
and nothing to believe
i dont wanna be another statistic
someone who gets in trouble
for nothing and everything
someone with bad grades
who has no chance of graduating
i dont wanna be another statistic
a girl who doesnt go to college
and one who doesnt graduate
or has a college degree
to be a young girl, a slum in the streets
i dont wanna be another statistic
another girl locked up
who doesnt have a famiy
cause they cant keep thenselves straight
i dont wanna be another statistic
a girl who just wanted fun
didnt use protection
didnt think the consequences
pregnant without a father
no money or support
i dont wanna be a statistic
a girl without a dream
crushed by other people
cause they didnt think it could ever be
now shes living on the streets
begging people for money
i dont wanna be another statistic
a girl so well behaved
so sweet
with everything going for her
left alone one night
trauma turned her around
now shes gone
i dont wanna end up dead, poor, pregnant or even a dropp out.
i dont wanna get in trouble, locked up, or homeless
i'll be me
i wont let anyone change who i am
poem by Stephanie Arroyo
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The Gulshan Lake - 1
The dwellers of slum
Cross the Gulshan lake by boats
From morning till night.
poem by Asif Andalib
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Slum Dog Millionaire
We keep asking why so much fanfare
About the film –“Slum dog Millionaire”
This is not an attempt to sound grim
About the popularity of the now famous film
But to understand why the world only applauds
Films on poverty and its dark innards
Signifying that only the worst side of the city
Brings out feelings of sympathy and pity
Could it have not portrayed a more
Balanced image of India to even the score
There are definitely pillars of great progress
The burgeoning middle class who sincerely stress
On good moral values and the importance of education
Giving us pride of place and a high degree of perfection
In many areas involving high technology
We can seriously claim to be the best globally
But of course on the other hand all is not bad
There is even reason to be glad
Danny Uncle has won the heart of many a slum kid
Thanks to him they will from their poverty be rid
They can even harbour dreams of entering Hollywood
If not, at least they can aspire for a career in Bollywood
These natural little actors would have remained inconnu
Had they not been selected to be part of the Slum dog milieu
For that they have to thank Danny Boyle
Who tirelessly worked with these little sons of the soil
But we like many others too would have been a lot happier
Had the movie had painted a less bleak picture of India.
poem by Sandra Martyres
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The first money I have been offered was as District Officer Ba.
quote by Kamisese Mara
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Red
The streets are full of stars again tonight
And an angel writes a word across the sky
When the people laugh theres no sound
And the words keep falling round and round
And the world just keeps on watching
Till theres nothing left to buy
I dont believe it
Well they dont care
Its moving closer
Its everywhere
Everything around us turning red - red
You walk into your home
You walk it talks - red
The fevers taken over everyone
And the only law that matters is the gun
The people run from every slum
Theres nowhere safe to watch it from
The underground is over now
Theres nothing that can be done
I dont believe it
Well they dont care
Its moving closer
Its everywhere
Everything around us turning red
You walk into a bar
You drink it smokes - red
Youre driving in your car
You turn it burns - red
As the air becomes too hot for us to breathe
Theres none of us that really want to leave
From the frozen north to the sun soaked south
The colour spreads by word of mouth
Till theres no-one left to talk to
We just look into the screen
Well I dont believe it
Well they dont care
Its moving closer
Its everywhere
Everything around us turning red - red
You walk into your home
You walk it talks - red
You walk into a bar
You drink it smokes - red
Youre driving in your car
You turn it burns - red
Youre on the telephone
You talk its always - red
You walk into your home
You walk it talks - red
You walk into a bar
You drink it smokes - red
Red! - red! - red! - red!
song performed by by Heaven 17
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Some Men
Lyrics & music: daryl hall
Some men call half way around the world if theyve got a phone game to play
Then again some men call their mom every day
Old boys drink bad beer and throw the cans out in the street
Playboys sit and sip red wine, some drink malt whiskey neat
So if you can, you talk about some men
If you can, you can talk about some men
Baby if you can, you can talk about some men
If you can, you can talk about some men
Colonels collect animal heads and hang their guns up on the wall
Corn balls watch television then pull a gun out in the hall
Crew-cut rainbows hang on streets hoping theyll find a friend
Odd balls running fast enough hope that they wont find their end
So if you can, you can talk about some men
Baby if you can, you can talk about some men
Sleep all night work all day
Work all night sleep all day
Drink all night sick all day
Sick all night drink all day
Dream all night if you can
We aint soldiers so dont generalize
No categories because it takes all kinds
You can sleep all night you can work all day
You can trip all night peak all day
If you can, you can talk about some men
song performed by by Hall & Oates
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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