Philly Postcards: Wish You Weren't Here

Her young body’s arc like a frown
As seen in silhouette against the moon
When the camera’s held low.
Her young body suspended
With the others like her,
Impaled by the stakes on Penns Landing
The port of Philadelphia, and the
Evil spirits are warned away.
-
Rittenhouse Square at night is beautiful,
A green park, one square block
In the heart of the city, with grass,
Statuary, birds, dogs playing, lighted globes
And people hanging from the trees
To keep them off the street at night.
-
City Hall is Poe's Gothic nightmare
Somehow surrounded by glass skyscrapers,
Gargoyles–in a modern city, gargoyles–
Appear to peer into the windows of their neighbors
And disapprove, and glower
And threaten.
-
The Liberty Bell is kept in a box,
And the box is kept in a closet
By Chestnut Street, closed off on that block,
And there stands an old man, the guard.
The square around him is quiet
Except for that noise. What was that?
Sneakers slapping sidewalk? A trash can upturned?
Seems the evil spirits have made it in.
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...........bobbyp
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(let me add, with no small degree of cowardice, that the sentiments expressed above do NOT represent the views of the poet, only his perceptions...bp)
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missed those Philly poems. ~paige