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Times Square

Times Square was once a sleazy place; You wouldn’t go alone there. When darkness fell, you held on or You’d lose all that you owned there. Today, though, it’s like Disney World, With tourists, loud and surging. There’s not an inch of space unfilled Since everyone’s converging: The families from Idaho, The hawkers giving passes, The Elmos and the messengers, The bused-in high school classes… The lunch-break workers, homeless dudes, The theater geeks and shoppers, The food carts, cabbies and the cops And all the teenyboppers. I love New York; don’t get me wrong But oftentimes I wonder If gentrifying Broadway Might have been a whopping blunder.

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Maurice Rigoler

Date: 5/21/2017 6:59:00 AM

I wish I shared your enthusiasm for New York city, never mind Times Square! I'm too much the country boy, Ilene, with rural space and quiet. BTW, why is it Times and not Time square? And why "square" also? The 4th stanza sums up the place vividly. Well done. Thanks for the stop by. / M

Ilene Bauer
Date: 5/21/2017 8:01:00 PM

hey maurice! i can understand where you're coming from and i can enjoy the quiet of the country, too - but just for a short time. the city is just in my blood, i guess, and i need all that stimulation around me. ~ times square was named after the new york times (our newspaper), the offices of which were located there for many years. i think the square just came from a meeting place with many blocks that intersect, like all the squares in southern cities.

Jan Allison

Date: 5/17/2017 4:54:00 PM

It looks an amazing place Ilene maybe one day we will get to experience it for real but I till then I can be transported in my imagination through your poems:-) hugs Jan xx

Ilene Bauer
Date: 5/21/2017 7:55:00 PM

thank you, jan! it is amazing because of the variety of people and theaters that you see, but it's also very crowded and crazy. you have to be mentally prepared to deal with it to really appreciate it...