the belly of the valley
is filled with acrid smoke
the night swirls up like a vampire’s cloak
over a county gone dry
and a city stone broke,
where shaky confederates
and the children choke
and the Agapamone and
their demented kinfolk,
who crawled to the hills
and as dark fell, awoke,
descend like crazed angels
intent to invoke
upon a city so dazzled
by razorblades and moonbeams,
that shudders each time
a spokesperson blasphemes
by mentioning thoughts
not approved by the mainstream
or by praising the enemy or
by doubting the regime,
the pricking of the germ
that runs hot in our bloodstreams –
a fear, that shakes
the foundations and crossbeams
of the windowless churches
that now bear our dreams –
and we don’t handle fear very well.
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That’s terrifying, Seb. It seems such a glamorous city, from a distance. I plan to keep that distance now.
Now here’s food for thought, man there’sgotta be more?
“windowless churches
that now bear our dreams”
for me a declining curve here, (unless greater precision)
The rest, no argument at all.
paste it on every telephone pole in the city, the way they put up French flag right here, all paid for by federal grants..
Oh my, this is just straight out scary, like the ghost of Charles Manson revisiting the city.
Oh wow. This peers into the darkness and does not flinch at what stares back.
That’s it, to a T.
Pingback: Straightforward Poems for Straightforward People « tarnation and eudemonia
And that’s just why the wast coast sucks, sir. You have been in quite the apocalyptic mood, lately.
WEST coast, of course.
It’s the city of dreams, baby – and you dream is as humid and lurid and claustrophobic as any this nation dreams right now.
Sounds like my kind of town!
very line is brilliant and twisted – the poetry flows through your words like an expressway through that dark and benighted city,
A deep gouge into the American psyche
A dark meditation on that which lays beneath the glamour of the city.
Don’t you be dissing my hometown, now!
Been a while, Seb. This hovers very menacingly. Very dark, indeed.
Very tense, very fraught Seb. I can really feel it closing in.
of course, as a New Yorker, I find this wise and insightful – but please, don’t ever prick my illusions about my hometown!
This taps into a very primordial American fear – we don’t handle that which is very much different form our notion of “us” very well at all, do we?
The montage is a great addition!
Again, out great terrors swarm up into us in seeing this.
The dark side of the city of lights. the devil behind the city of angels.
Deeply troubled, like the fever of a dream.
I love that city and I fear it.
A great vision of the terrible nothingness…
Thanks for visiting my blog. I have the opportunity of reading some great poetry here…
We’ve had an incredibly hot summer in India too – and now there is the drought!
Nature getting its back? I will be visiting again…
most people don’t handle fear very well i think… enjoying your LA poems