Best Chicago Poems

A Chicago Pearl

She put her dreams on hold but carries them up proudly
as she serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner, six days a week
to make ends meet; she’s a realist who doesn’t recoil from pain
or regrets; she faces them head on yet she likes the blues...

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At night the city is full of bones
And they
Are very dry

Beneath the trample of urban feet
They are ground

But to live, these dry bones
Must drink words

Sad nervous me, I stammer
Against those arid limbs
Grinding bone-dust songs

Into scattered fragments spun from raging blades

But realizing so many so, I...

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       CLOSING TIME AT THE PUB


The joy, the camaraderie, the smoke.
The great ale, my great friends in Chicago.
Old Town, North Avenue, twas Chicago,1967.
O' Rourke's Pub, where else?
Smoky, filled with excellent, lively,repartage 
and boisterous, glorious laughter.

Great friends like Roger Ebert,...

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December 14, 1965           

"Mr. Samuel Cooke. Sam Cooke??
You been in that casket for three days..
You a long way from Chicago, son?"

And Sam said, "What happened
Where am I?"

"This is the Judgement room.
In about ten minutes God...

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  E.E.CUMMINGS AND I


I remember a beautiful, Spring
day in Chicago.
Sitting on my lover's lap.
His eyes as lovely as the spring-
green trees tapping gently on my
living room windows.
His lips velvety as the roses on
Montrose Avenue, that day in May

And, I, reading him, E.E. Cummings
poem, "Since...

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                          California Dreaming
    ...

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I pulled up to the Stork Club in a bright Red Coupe Deville. I must admit I felt a bit of pride as I tossed the bell hop the keys. I said "Keep it close Kid!". As he sat behind the steering wheel, I admired...

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Invisible Prison

I look at the wall
	I look at the floor
I look out the window
	I look at the door
No clock on the wall
	No light in the socket
Empty bottles and empty wallet
	Bars in my mind
I am tied to chair
	Longing freedom of the fresh air
Ropes hold me tight	
	Hopes...

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"The Silkworm’s Birthday"





Mulberry leaves flutter in the breeze
Kookaburra brave Joker bluffs a sky blue breast 
Drops one feather for a quill, a song hidden in a laugh, no bitter pill
magic never rests, like a crystal prism spinning in light, magic reflects


While a black cat purrs...

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My room at the Hyatt 
Smelled like my ex-wife
She didn't have oodles of class
Or wasn't overly fancy
So, it must be that aroma of 
Almost masking what had
Taken place the night before
We greeted each other with
A welcoming suspicion 
The bathroom lighting flawless 
Standing in the mirror...

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If I could have your attention please. 

We have gathered here today to celebrate the life and death of our dearly beloved.

Radiance was her name, love her game, but isn’t it a crying shame that her encapsulating glow that was the light at the end...

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9/22/1983

I drove your shining,Cadillac, Daddy!
The lead car to the cemetery.
A stuffed bear, your Borsalino,
In the August, back window,fino!

You, in the hearse, a few feet behind..
Tears on the, wheel, almost went blind.
Silent pallbearers, waited, white gloved.
Upset was I,.into earth, you'd be shoved.

Priest stands in prayerful solemnity,
Oh,God,...

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The Muse 
I remember it well when in the summer evenings
I went to see her we drank wine and made love
Embraced we slept to morning light.
Stay with me she said to rest a bit longer I will serve you tea
No, I wanted to go home...

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As I recall it was December
When a blizzard closed down O’Hare
I was sick of northern winters
While the sun was shining south somewhere
I remembered in a magazine
Pictures of a tropic scene
In the sunny Caribbean

So, I called my friendly travel agent
Send me somewhere it's hot
When I asked...

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the health of the family
reflects the health of the city
broken families=broken cities
fix your family=heal your break...

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