Kensington Avenue
It’s sad when poverty
leads to the proliferation
of gangs and sales of drugs
which leads in turn to addiction.
No bigger open market for drugs exists
than one where great homelessness grew.
Gangs are thriving even to this day
there on Kensington Avenue.
Gangs of many ethnicities,
prostitutes and miserable folk
hang out there hooked on
heroin, fentanyl and coke.
A billion dollar market where
...
Continue reading...
Categories:
avenue, places,
Form: Quatrain
Kensington Avenue
“When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached,
don't adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.”
- Quote by Confucius
-------------------------------------------------------------
Human errors
beyond measure
K and A avenue
intersection
smoking hurt
needling pain
losing love of live
living addicted
people mistreating
people mistreated
unconscious youth
forgetful leaders
ruptured vein
dying humanity
homeless theories
weighed hopes
failed lot
lots failed
...
Continue reading...
Categories:
avenue, abuse,
Form: Free verse
KENSINGTON'S LAMENT
*This poem was written for "Kensington Avenue Poetry Contest, Anthony Biaanco, sponsor, July 20, 2025
KENSINGTON'S LAMENT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Her city streets are grey and worn, with a denim sky overhead. Birdsong trickles out in fractured waves, as if feathered friends cried while flying her way. Engines sputter; horns blare. People hurry by her in silence, eyes down, broken
...
Continue reading...
Categories:
avenue, 12th grade, city, drug,
Form: Personification
Kensington Avenue
The wheels of the chaotic times churn for them
the sands of crushed dreams in the desert of desiccated life,
settling frenzied on the unstratified fragile structure
of the disorganized dunes of desolate existence.
The sequestered moments of distressed awareness,
drift the dust of disarray to the foyer of failed being.
The truth of trustful conviction
...
Continue reading...
Categories:
avenue, addiction, depression, mental illness,
Form: Free verse
Kensington Avenue
Here they come with
an iPhone
Go Pro Zv Max
buddies in their ears
bopping to old tracks
dead cat on a mic
push it in yer face
what are you doing, girl?
Tryin’ to turn a trick
earn your Rhino tranq?
Sneakers burning
keeping warm
sleeping standing
got no dorm
Here they come in
their pink puffy
glittering long fat coats
frothy coffee, milk of oats.
Come see the zoo;
we got dead
...
Continue reading...
Categories:
avenue, city, dark, humanity,
Form: Free verse
Kensington Avenue, Philadelphia
Where is this? Are we on Mars?
America – just count the stores,
capitalist carnivores.
That so-familiar movie score,
the swish of passing cars.
The city built on Brotherly Love
(Wells Fargo, Fitch and Abercrombie)
at the mercy of Pam Bondi
- was that a person, or a zombie? –
What was Madison thinking of?
Car’s no use: no place to park it.
Arrested at a
...
Continue reading...
Categories:
avenue, places,
Form: Rhyme
Lunch on Third Avenue
Had lunch with a friend
And we sat in the shade
In a sidewalk arrangement
The restaurant made.
I live on the east side
And she on the west.
We meet to catch up
At each other’s request.
The corner was busy
And traffic zipped by.
With sirens and buses,
I’m not gonna lie,
The noisiness level
Was blaring and loud,
Plus bulldozers rolled
As pedestrians cowed.
Construction just added
More
...
Continue reading...
Categories:
avenue, friend, new york,
Form: Rhyme
trees on the avenue
the avenue's trees
What is with this month of May
the day is as cold as November
the leaves on the trees are full
and green, yet among the mass
of chlorophyll, I see many yellow
and Auburn leaves.
It is as if the trees think of autumn
has arrived and is prepared
for winter hiatus.
If I tell the plants it is because of
melting
...
Continue reading...
Categories:
avenue, art, books, break up,
Form: ABC
Along the Broken Avenue
The town, ripped up like a carpet—flung to the side like a broken leg. In its scar the soldiers marched. Chanted for a ruler who ate in his highchair while he penned in their death warrants. Overhead birds of death floated, their naked beaks dying for flesh. It’s cold, so cold a little brown mole
...
Continue reading...
Categories:
avenue, loss, murder, sky, war,
Form: Prose
The Avenue of Hope
I plant a seed by the sea and allow faith and courage to water it for thee I watch it grow with the passing wind until the heaven above move the substance within and the avenue of hope breaks through the gate and daylight stares straight in my face and my spirit suddenly came alive
...
Continue reading...
Categories:
avenue, birth, blessing, change, courage,
Form: Narrative
Avenue
The chapter I'm writing
starts with this setting
a side street that goes
for a block and ends
at a ravine.
Boxes are stacked
in the hallway.
The crimson trees outside
are still, but I know
something stirs.
The laptop screen glows
as I write.
I'll close the cover soon
but the story never ends.
A veil of clouds hides the sky.
I'll grab a quick bite
and do my
...
Continue reading...
Categories:
avenue, age, animal, autumn, friendship,
Form: Free verse
Electric Avenue
Beneath the stars, where galaxies align,
A pathway hums with vibrant, pulsing light,
The echoes call, as if the night's design.
Where cosmic winds weave tales of fire and flight,
The avenues of wonder stretch and twist,
A tapestry of dreams that sparks the night.
With every step, the shadows gently kissed,
Electric whispers surge through veins of air,
Each heartbeat dances, caught
...
Continue reading...
Categories:
avenue, color, stars,
Form: Terza Rima
The Avenue Beneath The Ground
I am stumbling along the beaten down path and struggling to get out of the dark, there are some boulders in the way and I have to work up extra energy to roll them away. The earth wakes up from its midnight slumber grumbling about an extramarital affair while the sun, moon and the stars
...
Continue reading...
Categories:
avenue, america, animal, betrayal, break
Form: Prose
On Champs-Elysees Avenue
No more can you say
that Paris is gay
Only the left
has right-of-way
...
Continue reading...
Categories:
avenue, change, happy, paris,
Form: Rubai
Kensington Avenue
"Sweet child in time,
you'll see the line
the line that's drawn between
good and bad"
Having cold sweats again in this godforsaken ninety degree heat. Shivering uncontrollably. God, what I'd do for a warm comforter right now. Zombies all around me mumbling incoherent poetry no one understands or even cares to hear. Young people half my age or
...
Continue reading...
Categories:
avenue, emotions,
Form: Haibun
Related Poems