Best Downtown Poems
Downtown Nashville is a place I’d love to call my home,
With fine country singers dancing on the Grand Ole Opry-
With Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers singing on the stage,
Sitting in the front row would be no one else but me!
The Country Music Hall of Fame full of platinum records,
In nineteen-eighty the awesome Johnny Cash was inducted-
The Judds and Hank Williams a part of history in the making,
Oh, what an amazing atmosphere Nashville has conducted.
Famous pulled pork dinners with enough sides for a hundred,
A full plate of Apple Crisp from downtown “Ravie’s Diner”,
Walking the streets with such ease with no worries of safety,
Right now, I live near Detroit and I’ve become quite the whiner.
Nashville carries a special place in my longing heart,
See, at Temple Church is where I found the Lord as my Savior-
The preacher was pouring wisdom as I sat in tears,
That precious hot day in July I shall always savor.
The biggest reason I’d love it there, it’s where my sister lives,
My number one best friend would live right next door-
My dogs would run free all day without worrying of strangers,
Because living in the open country you need a fence no more.
Downtown Nashville is a place I’d love to call my home-
With cherished music and my sister, I’d never again be alone.
November 8, 2016
Categories:
downtown, city,
Form:
Quatrain
A summer's evening stroll
in the downtown.
Tiny flying bugs
maneuver in the wind.
A hobo with one hand
strums a guitar,
his traumas grate against the air
as his style
-the blues-
echoes from his instrument.
Older ladies rush home
their purses clutched tight to their sides.
Knowing the approach of wicked darkness
is near,
and the welfare recipients who wander
the streets perhaps need
extra cash.
Druggies begin to appear.
Their morning,
and day
-hours in which to score a hit-
is others sleeping time.
This is the downtown.
When the summer evening winds down.
Categories:
downtown, summer, urban,
Form:
Free verse
Dropped a million
On a downtown train
Read a book about the devil
Cut myself with a red knife
Bled crazy
Still alive in this safe house
Chucking cards in a hat
In the pouring rain
Down the stairwell
In the middle of the street
I scream to Jesus
And bare my feet
It ain’t hard to believe
When you’ve died
Gone to hell
On a downtown train
Yellow windows
Nothing to see
Conductor is blind
Has a one-eyed dog
Ain’t never been straight
Down the tunnel
And up the hill
St. Bartholomew was born to kill
I’m living a lie I never lived
I never died.
Categories:
downtown, birth, death,
Form:
Free verse
Oh’ poor Mr. Brown
His heaven, is the bar downtown
At home he wished it be
But much scolding, endures he.
Stacey Brown 2-5-14
Categories:
downtown, character, marriage,
Form:
Clerihew
DOWNTOWN WHERE GIRLS DANCE ON POLES
FOR A PRICE THEY’LL BARE THEIR SOULS
THEY’LL SIT ON YOUR LAP
YOU’LL GO FAP FAP FAP
UNTIL YOU LOOSE YOUR CONTROL
Categories:
downtown, body, dance, funny, girl,
Form:
Limerick
I breathe grey air in spaces in between,
And whisky stings my tongue and bides the time,
In steps I aimlessly record the scene,
And cherish my misanthropy sublime.
Wandering the streets and alleyways,
Of this downtown, wherever I may be,
No need for love suffocating my days,
Alone but free to lie with honesty.
I let my flanerie in verses sing,
Excited to report that everywhere,
The happy tattered P.I.G. is living,
“The great imperative” of Baudelaire!
Categories:
downtown, on writing and words,
Form:
Iambic Pentameter
Outnumbered by loud engines and concrete blocks
Furious crowds and mobs ignore your existence
Till you clutch your way back home
Categories:
downtown, abuse, anger, angst, care,
Form:
Haiku
The greatest thing that describes
Downtown Dallas is that of its tallest
building, and not only that, but also its
parks, especially the Knoll Park. You can
even take the car to the city or take the
bus or ride the train there. Downtown
Dallas has a lot of museums (The African-
American museum and the Bath House
Cultural Center) restaurants (Iron Cactus),
and the legendary Majestic Theater. But
what Downtown Dallas is also famous for
most of all is their luxurious hotels (The
Adolohus, the Hyatt Regency, and the
ZaZa Hotel). It's amazing how Downtown
Dallas continues to develop and attract
more people day in and day out. And
outside of Downtown Dallas that attracts
more than a million people, there's also
the Uptown area, Deep Ellum, and there's
also the historic West End district that
looks exactly like Downtown Boston.
Come to think of it, this town's so
amazing. Right now, I wish all downtown
areas were as interesting as Downtown
Dallas is.
Categories:
downtown, city
Form:
Epic
Buzz of human feet,
Crowds swarming the trains;
Sea of faces meet,
Private matters strain.
Downtown trip we take,
Darling and I plow;
Human nature stakes,
Umpteen whys and hows.
We reach City Hall,
Find our way around;
Tour the festive mall,
Bright shoppes anchor grounds.
Caterpillar queues,
Await to transact;
Bored faces review,
Weary wait feeds tact.
The Christmas sale steers,
We jostle for stuff;
Bargains that endear,
Buy more than enough.
Busy feet aspire,
The shopping spree floods;
New wares tempt desires,
Whet the pulse of blood.
We discern our needs,
Separate our wants;
Let discrete thoughts feed,
Get brisk shopping done.
Here we wait in line,
Curious eyes pursue;
Attention defines,
Pry odd avenues.
We pay to exit,
Seek out attractions;
Find meal time retreat,
Wholesome consumption.
Homebound subway train,
Swift and fast and sure;
Feel stamina drain,
Goodie bags secure.
Our downtown tour spells,
Whim and fancy grooms;
Easy moments tell,
Intent fills sure boom.
Leon Enriquez
05 December 2014
Singapore
Categories:
downtown, change,
Form:
Quatrain
Downtown
By Street Cries
Its spring but I still feel a cold breez
Phone in my hand feeling close to freez
Buses passing by people walking afaid to say hi
On the way to the day to day grind
The homless looking for hope to find
Instead they find dope and place to recline
Sad faces with tormented mind
Seems like no one cares about those left behind
Seems like no one dares to lead them to sunshine
It's not their affair as they continue with a ignoring stare
Pretending to be unaware
That its a human standing there
With issues they can't seem to bear
Driving by looking out of windshields no glare
Wearing designer clothes no tear warm or cold air
Right across the street where city officials and business owners meet
Rangerovers and Cadillac with new feet
Unable to see cause their vision is bleek
Making million dallor decision with out a thought for homeless mothers and starving children
Passion is lacking for those with drug habits
So they get into expensive cars labeling them savage peace
Categories:
downtown, addiction, caregiving, culture, depression,
Form:
Lyric
high-rises touch sunset skies
and are bathed in many hues
fast cars bright lights raucous noise
eclectic beauty
frowns and smiles people laughing
on the way to a new day
in the now vivid fashions
sophisticated
heart of the city red sun
not long past the golden hour
frantic above and below
anticipating
Categories:
downtown, beautiful, car, city, color,
Form:
Dodoitsu
High Noon in Downtown Chicago
St. Peter's in the Loop
Two minutes more, Father Cal,
and you will hear another
of my strange confessions.
Right now, I'm outside
watching the rain on my glasses
running in rills.
Once inside I'll confess
the usual stuff
with a few variations,
none essential,
all accidental,
the same plot,
the same ploys,
the same frenetic tale
I have always to tell.
Next week, I promise,
it will be different.
Next week, I promise
I'll fall on the kneeler
and whisper
through the grille,
"Father Cal, it is I.
You know the rest."
Next week, I won't make
another list in the diner
across from St. Peter's.
Next week I'll swig
on a milkshake instead.
Father Cal, you and I
will both profit.
Donal Mahoney
Categories:
downtown, confusion
Form:
Free verse
there's a place to go
the lights are much brighter there
if you're that crazy
you can blow up an RV
and let the whole world stare
Categories:
downtown, crazy, suicide,
Form:
Tanka
The Old Church in a Downtown Canyon
On the street look up,
And see the high steeple,
Run inside, beg a prayer,
With all the noonday people.
Up next door to the 50th floor,
Through opulence, old wood,
Marble walls, a temple
To businesshood.
Look down from the sparkling window
In quiet contemplation,
Way over the steeple now of
Those in meditation.
The little church struggles for funds,
Swallowed from years of beanstalk choking,
By those who heard its love,
Their greed its hymns now revoking.
High high were the dreams encouraged,
From the little steepled pews,
Those who learned in it, reaped its love,
Are far too few.
Categories:
downtown, inspiration,
Form:
Grand Hope Flower
CA Hospital over
a century of healing
Construction din
all of downtown one
enormous construction
site with all its might
peeling into daylight
Executive traffic thinks
it’s funny, whizzes as
acorns drop onto
windshields and hoods
of the angle parked cars.
Drivers jostle, spar
in their car for the
pathetic number of
any available space
at any random regal ecstaseegle.
Pedestrians in their
weekday finery
amble, rush, with
crushed purpose and
parade in their charade
at exactifying tie tying
for the next meeting
conference justice lunch
sentencing
rendezvous park bench to
quench the bottomless
thirst which bursts from
the lungs of the withered
and the young.
Tuesday, oughta be
booze day for the
leprechauns who
realized they were fully
exposed not in the
shadowless shadows of
spirits and meadows.
But dodging every leaf
whether plated or
solid lab grown or
natural rough hewn
from the stalactites
glistening in pitch
blackness.
Does the perpetual
solid black know
what brilliant colors
adorn their rank cracks?
Ruby, peridot,
aventurine, sapphire
chrysoprase, agate galore,
yet more upon more
in scintillating splendor
the microcrystalline
jaspers, beryl in emerald,
diamonds formed within
gas bubbles inside
magma and only forced
to the crust via
volcanic explosions,
taking their toll, paying none.
That murdefying sun
all he has done
can’t defend subtracting
the particles waves
radioactive haze.
Bombarding every
carbonic harmonic
existence. Pre-existing
conditions their only
mission.
Categories:
downtown, caregiving, culture, environment, good
Form:
Free verse