Concentrate On Beauty
Within an ancient palace of Beijing’s Forbidden City
lies a hall that is endowed
to literary glory:
to understand its story,
you must leave the madding crowd
and, cultivated, concentrate on beauty without pity.
Written while visiting an exhibition from the Forbidden City at the Bowers’ Museum in Santa Ana. Within the Forbidden City there are halls dedicated to earthly tranquility, mental cultivation, supreme harmony, benevolent harmony and concentrated beauty.
8/30/00
poem by by unknown author
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Forbidden
something forbidden
becomes so delicious in the mind
the suspense of deprivation
makes it more desirable
everyday desire takes
upon itself what is forbidden
in the secret room
of the heart
guilt cries but
soon the guilt by extreme need
of the flesh
erases itself like the list
of unwanted friends
everyday what is forbidden is done
until such point
when what is forbidden becomes
a routine
until what is forbidden becomes
the usual familiarity
nothing about what is forbidden
becomes interesting
and then sin does not exist
until the good becomes the forbidden
in the silent room of your heart
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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Heartache City
Hit the city, hit the night
Hit the club, sip the wine
Just remember to leave on time
Hit the red lights, check the girls
Youre steppin into another world
See the man, hell spin you alive
But just remember to leave on time
Heartache, city of heartache city
City of heartbreak pity
Heartache city
Crazy people in heartache city
City of heartache city
City of heartbreak pity
Heartache city, its a city of sin
Check the star club, see the stars
See the action
In the back street bars
Lookin for love
Youre in the wrong place
Tricks for kicks
Can you stand the pace
Heartache, city of heartache city
City of heartbreak pity
Heartache city
Crazy people in heartache city
City of heartache city
City of heartbreak pity
Heartache city
Hit the city, hit the night
Crazy people, neon light
You pay your money
Its no real crime
But just remember to leave on time
song performed by by Uriah Heep
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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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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Once A City
Music by 10,000 maniacs - lyrics by mary ramsey & john lombardo
This was once a city
Harmony a common theme
But these complications
Now make life a bit uneasy
Hallowed buildings scrape the sky
Voices ride the airwaves
Once a city years gone by
Will they still be standing in thecenturies ahead
Going underground little children hiding,
Bullets never meant for them
Must there be such bloodshed in our hearts, our homes, ourheads?
Will I be walking, walking so free?
This was a city once
This was once a city
Harmony a common theme but these complications
Once a city, once a dream.
song performed by by 10000 Maniacs
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The City Vs. The Country
In the city where the colours run dry,
Or in the country where the farmers grow rye.
In the city where there are fees,
Or in the country where beauty is free.
In the city where there are loud crowds,
Or in the country where you can watch clouds.
In the city where you camp out in your room,
Or in the country where you have fun dancing with a broom.
In the city where there are polluting cars,
Or in the county where you can see stars.
In the city where you seal the deal,
Or in the country where you can heal.
In the city where you say later,
Or in the country where you can see the water.
In the city where space is tight,
Or in the country where you hold their hand in the moonlight.
Written by Haley McRae,14.
poem by Haley McRae
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Forbidden Fruit
all the forbidden fruit I ever
dreamt of--or was taught to
resist and fear--ripens and
blossoms under the palms of my
hands as they uncover and explore
you--and in the most secret
corners of my heart as it discovers
and adores you--the forbidden fruit
of forgiveness--the forbidden fruit
of finally feeling the happiness
you were afraid you didn't deserve--
the forbidden fruit of my life's labor
--the just payment I have avoided
since my father taught me how--
the forbidden fruit of the secret
language of our survivors' souls as
they unfold each others secret
ballots--the ones where we voted
for our first secret desires to come
true--there's so much more
I want to say to you--but for
the first time in my life I'm at
a loss for words--because
(I understand at last)
I don't need them
to be heard by you.
Submitted by Venus
poem by Michael Lally
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Forbidden Love You Are
You wasn't suppose to happen
I'm not even sure what I feel inside of me
You came to me so fast my love
You tell me this was meant to be
Forbidden Love you are
You speak in riddles to me
I somehow lose control watching you
Your voice completes me somehow
But I really don't know what to do
Forbidden Love You Are
I can't give you the right answer
Surely we know we must be discreet
You seem to understand me well
But we must watch when we meet
Forbidden Love You Are
poem by Suelynn Walters
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The Big City Type
I woke up in a big city apartment
Rode to a big city job
On a big city subway
With hip, big city people
Worked at a big city job
In a big city skyscraper
Stood in a big city line
For lunch, heard big city jazz
On a big city radio station
It was like a big city scene
In a big budget movie
When I realized I had become
The big city type
I always wanted to be
Yet I was still me
poem by Adam Artois
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One Day Traveler
Whenever I've traveled to a crowded city
I always think, 'Oh what a pity
to live in a city.'
For the skyscrapers there
so high in the air
have hidden the blue of the sky
except for the birds that fly.
The cold gray stone adorned with lights
never seem warm until the nights.
Their blinking neons can't compare
with the twinkling stars up in the air.
And again I think,
'Oh what a pity to live in the city.'
The hustle, the bustle and constant noise
have become for some the city's joys.
The screeching brakes, the honking sounds
is an abrupt assault to my head that pounds.
And again I think,
'Oh what a pity to live in a city.'
A one day visit and I'm ready to leave
and I know that I could never conceive
of being at home, never to roam
where the grass grows under my feet,
except for a country street
and again I think,
'Oh what a pity to live in a city.'
poem by Edwina Reizer
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The Pretty, Pretty City
Now the city has a studded nose,
Because the city is so pretty, and the city knows:
The city, she almost fooled me underneath the
Chicken sky- The city is so pretty,
But the city lie:
I loved the city and all its vermilion moods and ice-creams,
With parks and busses and city airplanes
And city rides- City coffins and city dies;
And I watched the city get drunk and turn around
And raise its monuments and party down;
And I sat upon one of her benches in a speculating mood,
And wondered if the city was so pretty,
Why was she so rude: The vulgar nebulas of the city’s
Eyes, the narcissisms of its displays:
There are so many well suited boys better than I out walking
In their sunny city days:
And I realized, the city didn’t love me,
The city plays and paws and eats up little boys such as
Me- She said she loves her little poet boys, such as me,
But the sweet, sweet city lies,
Because the city is so pretty, studded nosed and stunning eyed,
But she uses her autumn facades to blind the autumn chicken skies-
The pretty, pretty city has me hypnotized,
But the pretty, pretty city lies.
poem by Bret R. Crabrooke
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Forbidden Fruit
Sometimes fruit
is forbidden
one must
look
away.
Like Eve in the
garden
forbidden
fruit
on
display.
Little did she
know
the price
she
would pay.
Forbidden fruit
forever
sometimes
dreams
go
astray.
poem by Heather Burns
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In The City
As a child on the farm
I was warned of the wiles of the city
Of that demon disguise
As the dirt in the skies of the city
Well they say the proximity warps their minds
Until they're shooting one another just pass the time
And we live it appears
Both in spite and in fear of the city
I was constantly told
How our lives were controlled by the city
How they keep us in debt
With the trends that they set it's a pity
Now the beautiful people in the magazines
Got the normal ones living beyond their means
And the things that they said
Made me go in my head to the city
When I finally came
There's some things still the same in the city
You still lie under the thumb
Of the rich and the young and the pretty
Well they weren't much different than we might act
If there was that many others that closely packed
It's an ancient idea
But it struck me so clear in the city
song performed by by Jimmy Buffett
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Eternal Kansas City
Chorus (choir singing)
Excuse me do you know the way to kansas city?
Excuse me do you know the way to kansas city?
Excuse me do you know the way to kansas city?
Excuse me do you know the way to kansas city? (do you know the way to kansas city? )
Excuse me do you know the way to kansas city? (do you know the way to kansas city? )
Excuse me do you know the way to kansas city? (do you know the way to kansas city? )
Excuse me do you know the way to kansas city? (do you know the way to kansas city? )
Excuse me do you know the way to kansas city? (do you know the way to kansas city)?
(van singing)
Excuse me do you know the way to kansas city?
Excuse me do you know the way to kansas city?
Excuse me do you know the way to kansas city?
Excuse me do you know the way to kansas city?
Train down to st. louis
Get me there alright
Over to the city there, you know that one
Where the farmers daughter digs the farmers son
Dig your charlie parker
Basie and young
Witherspoon and jay mcshann
They will come
Oooowoooowoooo
Chorus (van and choir in background)
Excuse me do you know the way to kansas city?
Excuse me do you know the way to kansas city?
Excuse me do you know the way to kansas city?
Excuse me do you know the way to kansas city?
Lady liberty in waiting
You know she lights the way
Her name is billie, shes a holiday
And the city is eternal -- hey, cant you see?
Its inside of you and its inside of me
Oooowoooowoooo
Chorus (van and choir in background)
You know, you know the way to kansas city?
You know, you know the way to kansas city?
You know, you know the way to kansas city?
You know, you know the way to kansas city ?
You know...the way to kansas city
You know...the way to kansas city
Wild thing
You know the way to kansas city (choir only)
Thank you man (van)
You know the way to kansas city
Sing it (van)
You know the way to kansas city (van and choir)
Hit it (van)
You know...the way to kansas city
You know...the way to kansas city
You know...the way to kansas city
You know...the way to kansas city
Baby cant you sing it one time (van)
(choir)
You know the way to kansas city
You know the way to kansas city
You know the way to kansas city
You know the way to kansas city
You know the way to kansas city
You know the way to kansas city
You know the way to kansas city
You know the way to kansas city
song performed by by Van Morrison
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Forbidden Love!
I cannot hold you close to my being
Forbidden love!
Nor can hope
For your love in return.
But try as much as I do
Can not just wipe you
off from my mind.
At times I think that's pretty dumb
At others
As I try it
my heart goes numb!
I cannot ever look into your eyes
Forbidden love!
Nor can dream
For me, you ever
would be there.
But try as much as I do
Can not just turn and walk away,
At times i think its okay,
This insanity!
At others,
I pity going waste
This long guarded sanity.
At times
I ask myself
What are you to me anyway?
Just another stranger,
Unknown face in the crowd.
At others
Something tells me
You are the only thing, everything
left for me,
of me,
in this strange, unknown world.
In love,
Forbidden love!
at times
I do not live
Neither in peace I die.
But at others
I often wish
If I could once,
Just once,
Hold you closest to my heart
break down in pieces,
and in wails could cry,
yes,
my countless, unshed tears.
O my love!
For once,
If I could just cry.-anjali
poem by Anjali Kakati
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Forbidden Fruit
Oscar brown jr
Eve and adam had a garden everything was great
Till one day a boy says pardon miss my name is snake
See that apple over yonder if youll take a bite
You and adam both are bound to have some fun tonight
Go on and eat forbidden fruit
Its mighty sweet forbidden fruit
Its quite a treat forbidden fruit
Go ahead and taste it you dont wanna waste it
The lord had said in the beginning everything is free
Except that apple that leads to sinning so let that apple be
But eve got tempted so she tried it and as all chicks do
Teaser her man till he decided hed just try some too
Go on and eat forbidden fruit
Its mighty sweet forbidden fruit
Its quite a treat forbidden fruit
Go ahead and bite it I bet youd be delighted
I hate to tell you all what followed the lord was most upset
Saw them making love and hollered what have you to add
And when they made a full confession the lord said hm I see
I guess Ill have to teach you a lesson about not minding me
Go on and eat forbidden fruit
Its mighty sweet forbidden fruit
Its quite a treat forbidden fruit
Youre all indebted now you gonna get it
The lord made eve adams madam have his kids and all
Placed some labour laws on adam and he made the snake to fall
Ever since the days of eden folks been sinful my
Nowadays theyre even eating apples in their pie
Go on and eat forbidden fruit
Its mighty sweet forbidden fruit
Its quite a treat forbidden fruit
Go ahead and taste it you dont wanna waste it
Oh go ahead and bite it I bet youd be delighted
You always did it now youll gonna get it
Forbidden fruit
song performed by by Nina Simone
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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My city hall
At the foot of my city hall lay stairs to nowhere
My city hall holds flags that have lost meaning
It’s become a place for bureaucrats to lay waste in my city
No open doors for citizens so where do I go
With my problems a glass bottle may work
But it won’t float where needed
But maybe the finder can do more than me
Because my city hall isn’t open to the public
poem by Ronald Speight
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Everyone wants to be free[2]
Everyone wants to be free
of injustice and iindignity,
but I just want to be me.
Take me away
from the madding crowd,
where the city
kills my humanity.
Let me see
the beauty of the world
that God has made
in every flower and every tree
and let me find a place
where He can talk to me.
poem by Gert Strydom
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...each of us has to find out for himself what is permitted and what is forbidden - forbidden for him. It is possible for one never to transgress a single law and still be a bastard. And vice versa. Actually it's only a question of convenience. Those who are too lazy and comfortable to think for themselves and be their own judges obey the laws. Others sense their own laws within them things are forbidden to them that every honorable man will do any day in the year and other things are allowed to them that are generally despised. Each person must stand on his own feet.
quote by Hermann Hesse
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Sultana's Remonstrance
IT suits thee well to weep,
As thou lookest on the fair land,
Whose sceptre thou hast held
With less than woman's hand.
On yon bright city gaze,
With its white and marble halls,
The glory of its lofty towers,
The strength of its proud walls.
And look to yonder palace,
With its garden of the rose,
With its groves and silver fountains,
Fit for a king's repose.
There is weeping in that city,
And a cry of woe and shame,
There's a whisper of dishonour,
And that whisper is thy name.
And the stranger's feast is spread,
But it is no feast of thine;
In thine own halls accursed lips
Drain the forbidden wine.
And aged men are in the streets,
Who mourn their length of days,
And young knights stand with folded arms,
And eyes they dare not raise.
There is not one whose blood was not
As the waves of ocean free,--
Their fathers died for thy fathers,
They would have died for thee.
Weep not, 'tis mine to weep,
That ever thou wert born,
Alas, that all a mother's love
Is lost in a queen's scorn!
Yet weep, thou less than woman, weep,
Those tears become thine eye,--
It suits thee well to weep the land
For which thou daredst not die.*
poem by Letitia Elizabeth Landon
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City of Love
Come to this place,
And witness the sunrise,
Come to this city,
And witness its beauty.
To the north of the city,
Rice-fields you'll see,
To the south you can reach,
The city beach.
Come stop by the west,
Oh, one of the world's best!
You'll find nothing else,
But Mt. Mayon no less!
If you go to the east,
The International port can't be missed,
Or just go island hopping,
That should be exciting!
Or make your number one priority,
St. John The Baptist Church you should be,
From Mt. Mayon's rocks it was formed,
Rocks- by egg whites were joined!
Where is this city so pretty?
By its beauty you'll be in captivity,
Tabaco-City of Love no wonder,
Is a rightful name yours forever.
poem by Richelle Barrameda
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