Have Soul – Lady<\/p><\/div>\n

Got Soul?<\/b><\/p>\n

cities have souls too, you know,
\nsome malignant and ugly,
\nsneering, full of derision;
\nsome benign and beautiful,
\nsome merely indifferent
\nand uninviting, bland, lacking
\nambiance, pizzazz, character.<\/p>\n

some cities spit dust.
\nsome cities swallow without chewing first.
\nsome cities rust out before their time,
\narthritic and osteoporotic,
\nempty windows, crumbling bricks,
\nwasted motion.
\nsome cities are pitiful, joints aching
\nwith unfulfilled dreams.
\nsome cities are pugilistic,
\ninsolent, provocative,
\nlegs apart, arms akimbo,
\ndaring you to knock the chips off
\ntheir blocks, ready to solve their problems
\nwith fists and amplified voices.
\nsome cities squander their chances
\nin one gamble too many.
\nsome cities have had it up to here.<\/p>\n

some cities blush with cheeks
\nof blooming fruit trees, invite you in
\nfor tea and an afternoon of discussing
\nthe latest New York Times best seller,
\ngenteel with old money.
\nsome cities are steepled and mapled,
\nrecycle and go green and please
\ndon’t litter.
\nsome cities lick their lips and turn on
\nthe red light and say baby, baby,
\ndon’t be afraid, it’s only money and
\nyou’re not a cop, are you?
\nsome cities say everything’s for sale.
\nsome cities say you can’t touch this.
\nsome cities wear their rainbows with pride.<\/p>\n

some cities are limos and taxies
\nand underground trains.
\nsome cities bicycle to lunches of wraps
\nand salads and unsweetened tea.
\nsome cities take their coffee black.
\nsome cities only drink bottled water.
\nsome cities hunker down and slurp
\nright from the river.<\/p>\n

some cities are lazy, dingy,
\nbusted streetlights, broken bottles,
\npeeling billboards, gutter trash.
\nsome cities sleep on the streets
\nand wheedle spare change.
\nsome cities are caricatures of themselves.
\nsome cities feel like prison walls.<\/p>\n

some cities offer you a light,
\na couch for the night, a bowl of soup,
\nthe shirts off their backs.
\nsome cities sing in unfamiliar voices,
\nmove in alien rhythms, but beg you
\nto join in anyway.<\/p>\n

some cities coruscate in sunlight, effervescent
\nwith laughter and confident of time.
\nsome cities glow soft in the darkness, like
\nfireflies seen from a rooftop, neoned
\nand open all night.
\nsome cities close their eyes and pretend
\nyou’re not even there.
\nsome cities are come-as-you-are,
\nlet it all hang out, let’s hold hands and
\nput a flower in the government’s rifle.
\nsome cities cry over spilled milk.
\nsome cities look the other way.<\/p>\n

these are not my city.<\/p>\n

my city is hardscrabble.
\nmy city is plodding and stodgy, and weighed
\ndown by the grime on its neck and the dirt
\nunder its fingernails.
\nmy city works hard
\nfor the money, blue collared, blue jeaned,
\nblues on the radio, rock in its roll,
\ntired to its soul
\nbut dragging out of bed in the morning
\nfor one day closer to retirement.
\nmy city has dogs in the backyard,
\nmotorcycles in the garage;
\nmy city cashes its checks
\nand goes to the movies,
\nbets on the Lottery,
\nreads poetry when nobody’s watching.
\nmy city cheers for the underdog.<\/p>\n

my city has Great Lakes in the refrigerator
\nand Wonder Roast on the table.
\nmy city just opened fresh bags of chips
\nand Cheetos, my city is pulling up
\nan extra chair.
\nmy city is holding the door open.
\nmy city slaps you on the back,
\noffers you a brew, says
\ncome on in, willya, and wipe your feet,\u00a0 and
\nwelcome to the neighborhood.<\/p>\n

~ Dianne Borsenik<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Have Soul II – Lady<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

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Got Soul? – Dianne Borsenik; Window 4 – Lady<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thecitypoetry.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thecitypoetry.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thecitypoetry.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecitypoetry.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecitypoetry.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecitypoetry.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thecitypoetry.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecitypoetry.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecitypoetry.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}