City Boy Blues

musty clothes strewn about
a dusty room
full of hot black bodies in dirty underwear
exhausted from a day of
surviving

the sound of late night traffic filters in through
the rusty screens in the broken windows
periodically interrupted by the rebel yell
of lost teens and homeless men

my descriptions are painfully inadequate
even though i have been there
painfully inadequate
even though i have lived there

gnarled fingers
rolling top papers
into poor mans cigarettes

the porch creaks when you 
walk across
it's peeling planks
notifying occupants of intruders
poor mans alarm

i want to move
but it follows me
from one hole to another
with it's smells of degradation
and it's hopes of redemption
Copyright © | Year Posted 2009

Poem

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Crane Avatar
April 29, 2009 at 11:58 AM
Amazing again. You are a wonderful poet, so very far from inadequate! You paint such vivid pictures that they always stay with me long after I have finished reading. Kat x
Devonshire Avatar
April 23, 2009 at 8:49 PM
Brian, your descriptions are anything but "painfully inadequate." Your images are consistently compelling in all of your poems. This is yet another example.
Bird Avatar
April 23, 2009 at 8:24 PM
Such despair in a busy raw city Brian, this is a compelling and moving write. You are a gifted poet. Thanks for sharing your talented pen my friend.
Richards Avatar
April 23, 2009 at 10:34 AM
As Christopher said...you have painted the scene so well...can breathe in the city, hear the sound, smell the smells. Well done. Carrie
Higgins Avatar
April 23, 2009 at 10:31 AM
This sounds like a lot of major cities..from the NYC to Detroit..I can see and smell this city..I can see the poor man's cigarette being lit..wonderful painting of a picture my brother...
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