Changes
Beware the wrecking ball.
That building was someone’s home.
Farewell to lonely aristocrats turned
Crack houses.
Monstrous high rises soar no more.
Urban renewal turning slum
Into pricey town homes.
Lake front views.
False promises by deep-pocketed
Aldermen. Contracts to their buddies.
Low income housing for the few.
Meanwhile empty lots reign.
Urban tumbleweed rolls by.
12 comments:
Hi Sarala,
I like how you open this with a warning to emphasize your position.I agree with the strong messages you presented so well here, going beyond imagery.I can imagine hearing that "wrecking ball", "crack" houses and "False promises." Your powerfull opening and closing also struck me. Nice work.
My response to this prompt is here - GeL
i love the small brick building. so simple. the same thing occurs here in california, with a vengeance. land value trumps basic human need.
It's happening everywhere- even in my little town. Deep-pocketed alderman indeed...
Excellent poem here...
Hi Sarala! Thanks for your comment on my poem. I like your idea of using the building for inspiration!
Worthy of publication (with photo) in Preservation magazine. Wonderful. I love some of the changes I've seen in Chicago, but I wish they hadn't destroyed in the neighborhoods in the 40s and 50s so that they had to destroy them again.
My poem this week is about women's fashion change.
This is a wonderful poem, and a great photo too. I knew you were talking about Chicago even before I saw the Chicago tag on the photo. Oakland suffers a similar fate...and it is such a shame. I love this poem!
Your poem and those photos are such perfect compliments to each other. Scary the rise and fall of urban development. You've captured it completely.
This is something which is happening all over the world. The land mafia is taking over. I can relate.
You have said it so well.
gautami
Transposition.
Your photo caught my eye because it looks so much like the apartment building my Grandparents lived in on Loomis Boulevard in the 50's. I'm sure it's seen the wrecking ball by now. Funny, I remember huge paths of partially torn down buildings that I could see from the EL. So this has been going on for a LONG time.
I love the poem!!
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Excellent. Its the same in Edinburgh too, there are current plans to knock down old tenements (people's homes and beautiful buildings both) to build modern offices and hotels. Awful. Money rules doesn't it?
I loved your poem and teh photos you posted with them were so telling. There are examples of such scenes all over the place, aren't there?
Wonderful poem, and i like how you made something good of the building i use to call home here in chicago (robert Taylor) and yes dorthy tillman did lie to us by telling us she wouldnt let our building be torn down and look where we are now...
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