Stan Rodriguez

Cities

They scar the country with prejudice, not paradise,

oblivious to the currents that light the evening skies

 

Stone monuments sometimes of steel,

cold and perverse—they climb and steal the very light of day

 

The dandelions, they claim the prize that line the street

and gutter ways—the cement fields of want and play

 

Bricks of orange and of red consort with peeling wood

that’s dead—a haven for the pests that stay

and share this metropolitan today

 

and in convenience vibrato do we hear

the noise that’s softly playing in our structured ears.

 

Monoliths that pierce the skies with their heads

they sigh and cry—peering through the hazy fog

that won’t hide them—not at all

 

and discipline is out of line, corrupting the senses

of the mind—making us wish that there was time

to move away from here.