Best New York Poems
The Titanic set sail from Queens Town in Cork
on her maiden voyage to the city of New York.
Its sinking cost lives that they couldn't save
now those poor souls lie in a watery grave.
Written 27th July 2020
For four lines poetry contest
Sponsored by Constance La France.
Plunked down in chaos
from a gentler time,
blinkered from the traffic
he pulls the coach along.
Patient, in his harness bond
he tugs at hearts, with pathos-
as to his love of duty we respond.
Amidst the screech of sirens
and the blasting horns,
he stands and dreams
of meadows in a nosebag.
Such rhythmic clicking of
metal shoes on concrete,
full rolling of the carriage
wheels and he, confined,
down through the centuries
he thought he'd left behind.
Your Invitation
You wanna from New York-
talk skin-teeth stories
b|tch brick-falling buildings
knive bus choking fumes-
Proud-over cracked sidewalks
holy street-people
and cracked-dreams?
You wanna scar of alley cans and
rooftop bums who eat
lost pink Spaldin® balls?
You coo city-drums and garbage-glory-
Swag-shoulder every party-
Shoe your claim by kitchen-fame...
Then GO THERE!
New York will school your past and
take your part.
jampacked city streets
that jangled and banged
in the raucous jarring day
shifted
from business to boogaloo
squeezing into moonlight
party lights
gin and lime-kissed
gimlet sequined dress
strutted
in studded six-inch heels
riveting flair
provoking jive and jazzy nights
to tame this lion of New York
The bed swallowed the evening
sucked-up in slumbered
sobering snooze
exhaling the drunkard’s stench
while the warmth of whiskey
and you next to me
laid dreamy still
popped up and propped up
restless and ragged
realizing the changing view
through the dirt-stained window
a pool of placid sunrise
igniting
colorless clustered towers
bulwarks and girders
scraping the sky
out of the easterly clouds
a creeping golden palette
arose
touching every crevice
defining each silhouette
your body stirs deliberate and slow
rainbow hued eyes
slenderly slitted catching
the new-found light
opening, tenderly revealing
the landscape of your smile
disclosing
a cozy contentment
waking with hello
as I fall into your dream
and a new day
the fire an awful splendour in sapphire sky - then the towers were gone
“In this life there’s been heartache and pain”
How could I begin to find love again
Desperado walking a tightrope
I looked down and Daniel gave me hope
“The first time ever I saw your face”
Cold heart melted, longed for your embrace
Your compassion and character shone
No longer could I live all alone
“You took my love and you took it down”
Felt lighter than air with feet on the ground
A love without chains, a soul unbound
But walls closed in as I watched you drown
"In a New York minute everything can change"
Sometimes life takes twists that seem strange
A human chain was formed to find my man
Reaching up was Daniel's lifeless hand
Efforts to save, resuscitate
Proved futile to fight the hands of fate
Casket sent home, called his folks to explain
“Daniel is traveling tonight on a plane”
*Foreigner’s “I Want to Know What Love Is”
*Roberta Flack’s “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face”
*Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide”
*Don Henley's "In a New York Minute"
*Elton John’s “Daniel”
By Carolyn Devonshire for Tracie's "Sing a Song for Me" contest.
Dedicated to my fiancé Daniel Sammons who drowned while we were swimming in a
lake near Tallahassee, FL.
California
Sunny, warm
Swimming, boating, sunning
Sky, airplane, ocean, seashells
Skiing, sledding, snowball throwing
Cold, blistery
New York City
Who's who in the New York Zoo?
Said the clown with a funny face.
Many different cultures.
Within the human race.
Who's who in the New York Zoo?
A lion, a bear, an elephant, a giraffe.
Many different animals.
All which make us laugh.
Who's who in the New York Zoo?
A barber, a tailor, a dressmaker's store.
Many different occupations.
Make your way through the door.
A Catholic, A Christian, A Saint, and A Jew.
Many different religions.
While we feed Central Park's pigeons.
Who's who in the New York Zoo?
Said the man with a great big shoe.
Find your subway to paridise!
Zoo York Poetry By Kim Robin Edwards
Copyright 2010,2014..All rights reserved
Greenwich Village breathes,
She inhales exhausted tepid air,
And exhales blustery winds of possibility.
The lady blows away the veils of dishonesty.
Tangled streets strung together,
Knotted masses of pearls and poetry,
Entwining marbled heroes,rounded arches,
Crucifixes,and snakes penned on skin.
Artists, tourists, vagrants,and scholars,
Know the calling of its siren song well.
People living on the fringe of humanity,
And those from the upper crust, fuse.
The village is the one spot on earth
Where you can expose your primal desires,
And explore their depths unfettered.
She is a lovely harlot who lives to please .
Musicians and thinkers engage in chess,
Neighbors line the benches of it's central park.
Children run naked through its fountains.
The poor and idol rich roam, anonymously.
A reader of fortunes lays out his cards,
Lovers tango,who knows which one leads?
Perhaps all the seekers will find their way,
And the leaders will learn how to see?
Lady Greenwich Village,the canvas of New York life,
Her face painted with brilliant spattered oils.
Each of us can add our own divine colors,
Dripping and blending with individual uniqueness.
This city demands to be explored
It aches with the yearning of a living metropolis
The broad masses of the people
take sustenance from it
One cannot help but believe that
the city is a living organism
Does time tell everything?
Time is a manic relative of this city
If you know this you can survive in this urban homeland
You can thrive when
you know that
the swift pace of life here
keeps you on your toes
You can survive
when you realize
that the millions pounding the pavement
are searching for the peace you seek
The bright lights which shine in the shadows
are reflected in a million eyes
Every time you see a smile in this city
Treasure it
for the hectic pace of this asphalt homeland
allows for only brief moments of love
the rain that drowned the sidewalks
dampened down the night-time heat
creating steam through manholes
from the pipes beneath the street
and set against this backdrop
of a vibrant city beat
swarms of taxis stung the air
with horns stuck on repeat
as a writer sipping coffee
staring from a café seat
wrote words for her 'bestseller'
based on when two people cheat..
"..married strangers and a storm..
arranged a covert meet..
..ran towards each other
in a way such lovers greet..
they kissed beneath umbrellas
in a manner so discreet
then stepped inside a restaurant
to flirt, laugh, love and eat
her big blue eyes melted his heart
her smile was wide and sweet
and he was rich, tall, cool and calm
and swept her off her feet..."
...but before the lovers' story
made it to another sheet
the writer came to from her thoughts
with the chapter incomplete
her big blue eyes and sweet wide smile
felt somewhat obsolete
on the poor, tall, cool, calm waiter who
brought change with her receipt.
Elevated railroad tracks
Abandoned long ago
Have been transformed into a place
Where grass and flowers grow.
With benches made of wood or stone
And artwork interspersed,
The desolation and despair
Have all but been reversed.
If visiting the city
Is a plan that you have made
Then walk upon the High Line
And behold what’s there displayed.
It’s part and parcel of the town
But also quite unique
So stroll the High Line if
A New York feeling’s what you seek.
I’m sorry for my flaws
I appreciate everything you do for me
I wish I could always smile at passing children
I wish I felt better about myself
I wish I saw the light you provide for me
The light I voluntarily turn my back from
The light I’m suppose to drink
As if to keep hydrated.
I’m surrounded by quarters and unfinished books
I read because I’m searching for affirmation
Quarters for clothes to be kept clean.
I’m divulgent
I parade my flaws
I hide, trip, and reveal my flaws
I am in constant concern of my own being
And a stillness of thought for a mind to be kept clean.
The world is a messy place
Our mind the raking of leaves
The leaves of the world fall and we rake
The leaves of the world fall and we rake
We fall and awake and fall again.
Love is warm, harmless, and stamped
Inefficiently weak by the assemblies of faces
Swept up by the world’s business of cold linear time
Moving like a sad and brutal train.
I sit at the station
My fingers interlocked pressing against my face
Peering through the thicket of my spirit.
Hours later, maybe, I am looking up the hill
Pulling my elephant.
Children circle around my small progress
Skipping and laughing.
(They don’t care,
They just like elephants.)
Though, last night, I dreamt I rode a killer whale
And so here it dawns on the weakened spirit:
That I am the Whale Rider of the Phantom World
Wandering through 10th Avenue
My flaws in our wake
My fist pumped high in the air
In the name of a Life Authentic.
This all dreamy and wonderful
While in the world of machines and mass movement
The elephant keeps his slow, tugging gait behind me,
Ignorant of dreams.
In a city as big as New Yawk,
There’s so much at which tourists can gawk
But the locals’ fast pace
May be hard to embrace
So if guiding them, slow down your walk.
You can never squeeze everything in,
So pick places they never have been
And of course, be a mensch;*
Let them sit on a bench
Or exhaustion will make their heads spin.
Have them soak up the buzz we provide,
Surely different from where they reside.
They may love it or not
But at least they’ll have got
Just a taste of what fills us with pride.
*an admirable human being
You see I've been misunderstood majority of my life
Its as though if living were war
then im the knife
Its not my fault society embraces suicide
Label me an aspiring mathematician
Cuz I have nothing to hide
but a simple substance I provide
for an affordable price
my life is nicked and dimed into a dynasty of ghetto capital
my product derived of natural organic matter
strategically cut and cooked for a simple way to provide
that get away you're after boo
Damage is collateral
See while you chase starts
I chase the dollars that make them
See I defy God and for a few
I can make you invincible
destroying your principles
Cuz ile have you feining for that next high
that next mucus mixture
with the snort of that booger sugar
Excess caked up til inhaled to the brain
that mental bugaloo
Cut into rocks of instacourage
for you weak pawns on a chessboard
checkmated before you had the chance
to advance to enemy territory
You've destroyed yourself
As I enjoy my wealth
Now whos the loser
When you look yourself in the mirror
and realized you've ascertained a habit you cant break
developed a hunger for a superficial utopia you cant make
You are
So as a businessman my product and I are one
but never mingle
So while you dibble and dabble with the snow
I create blizzards
Are you prepared for the cold cold life ahead of you
If im caught is federal
But you're worth the effort
Im just simply the man that makes the offer
And its crazy cuz when the streets were hot
and my product was mixed with soda pop
it was a shoulder shrug
Now I gotta hide my product
discreet with my customers
or metal bracelets will give my wrist
a colder hug
Load the slug
and aim it at your cranium
this is a ride youll die for
Literally speaking
No pun intended
It was more of a visual sentence