Ilene Bauer Poet Rhyme

Razing My Spirits

Five brownstones lined up on the corner
Have been there a hundred plus years
Until demolition equipment
Knocked them down, once they got the “all clears.”

The tenants had somehow departed,
Perhaps with a buyout of cash.
I wonder if they were there watching
The bulldozers hammer and smash.

The neighborhood’s losing its status
And certainly lots of its charm.
Replacing those brownstones with towers
Is surely a cause for alarm.

We’re squandering history’s treasures
And also big chunks of the sky,
For greedy developers hover
And space is in dwindling supply.

I mourn all the relics we’re missing
For with every toppling of bricks,
The city succumbs to the sameness
Of others, just part of the mix.

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Caren Krutsinger April 3, 2019 at 2:50 AM I do not understand this willingness to knock down the tried-and-true for the not-so-lovely-but-new. I hope the former tenants were not watching. It sounds sad to me, my friend. I imagine you could not watch very long either, right, Ilene?

Connie Marcum Wong April 3, 2019 at 12:42 AM I am happy that some classic buildings are protected as historic treasures. The Victorian building my daughter used to live in in Santa Rosa was saved. I can relate to your poem in every sense. Lovely with a powerful message Ilene! : ) xxoo

Rico Leffanta April 2, 2019 at 6:14 PM Aye, Waikiki is now a jungle of concrete towers; I call it the Temperate Tokyo, but happily, I can still look out my lanai and see blue sky instead of neighbours! But you just wrote about your love for noise and now you get to hear demolition? Life is constant change and revision …..aloha! Rico