Dark Chicago Poems

We finally arrived after going 
through metal detectors passing 
through so many children mothers 
praying for their sons then there 
was us my curiosity of...

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It was 1968 we'd gathered again in the school auditorium my tiny hands sweating only five years old while my name was called in all...

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What is carnival without the music? What is carnival with the dance? What is carnival without the colors, what is carnival without a song? ...

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Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall
In Chicago we have it all
Chicago Skyline with skyscrapers abound
Landmarks and tourist wondering around

Lake and beaches enjoyed by the crowd
Festivals fill the...

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I thought today I could make it work

it wasn’t so much the sadness

as lightness

as bottled crocodiles and persimmon fungi

as broken arrows across the ascended 

the...

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Looking back, one thing comes clean-glass clear
you were always there for me subduing every fear.

I tried to do my duty, be a husband strong and...

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VIOLENCE EQUALS EROSION
by
JOHN M. ARROBAS


There Was a Time in this Great Land
You Could Voice an Opinion, Take a Stand
That Right Is Eroding in this Great...

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Little black pearl
formed from city grit 
pressurized by violence
layers of scars-a survivor.
There were no birds or trees
only concrete eggs in broken nests
harsh decades under moonlit...

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In 1967, fresh out of high school at seventeen, I boarded a northbound bus to the metropolis of the mid-west. After arriving in Chicago, while...

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In the late 60s in 'the second city', on the southside at 43rd and Calumet,          ...

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Dead folks in my hood.
I just watch Netflix and keep
my shades down.
Hoping I don't get killed.

I pray to the Lord!
And in the dark night, 
bullets fly...

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Go do be to the dozens of them stars,

I say to the reactionary planet doing deeds for the floral arts,

when I went to the south...

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Chicago.
Wish you were here.
Walk with me in my heart, My Love...

I was expecting more noise on a Saturday night,
But the wind wasn't even up.
(I was...

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I started my teaching career in a Chicago middle school as a sub.
Our cars were locked up so they would not be vandalized during the...

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I once suffered a strong arm robbery on a dark Chicago street. Halfway down the block, I saw two young men turn the corner and...

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