poets – Page 30 – POETRY and PLACES

Love Poem to Los Angeles by Luis J. Rodriguez (L.A. Poet Laureate, 2014-2016)

Love Poem to Los Angeles by Luis J. Rodriguez with a respectful nod to Jack Hirschman 1. To say I love Los Angeles is to say I love its shadows and nightlights, its meandering streets, the stretch of sunset-colored beaches. It’s to say I love the squawking wild parrots, the palm trees that fail toContinue reading “Love Poem to Los Angeles by Luis J. Rodriguez (L.A. Poet Laureate, 2014-2016)”

Young in New Orleans by Charles Bukowski

Young in New Orleansby Charles Bukowski starving there, sitting around the bars,and at night walking the streets for hours,the moonlight always seemed faketo me, maybe it was,and in the French Quarter I watchedthe horses and buggies going by,everybody sitting high in the opencarriages, the black driver, and inback the man and the woman,usually young andContinue reading “Young in New Orleans by Charles Bukowski”

[Traveler, your footprints] by Antonio Machado

[Traveler, your footprints] by Antonio Machado Traveler, your footprints are the only road, nothing else. Traveler, there is no road; you make your own path as you walk. As you walk, you make your own road, and when you look back you see the path you will never travel again. Traveler, there is no road;Continue reading “[Traveler, your footprints] by Antonio Machado”

Chicago by Carl Sandburg

Chicagoby Carl Sandburg Hog Butcher for the World, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with Railroads and the Nation’s Freight Handler; Stormy, husky, brawling, City of the Big Shoulders: They tell me you are wicked and I believe them, for I have seen your painted women under the gas lamps luring the farm boys.And they tell me you areContinue reading “Chicago by Carl Sandburg”

Paris, France (Metro), In a Station of the Metro by Ezra Pound

In a Station of the Metro by Ezra Pound The apparition of these faces in the crowd: Petals on a wet, black bough. PHOTO: Metro Station, Paris, France, by Lee Blanchflower on Unsplash

The Night Journey by Theodore Roethke

NIGHT JOURNEYby Theodore Roethke Now as the train bears west,Its rhythm rocks the earth,And from my Pullman berthI stare into the nightWhile others take their rest.Bridges of iron lace,A suddenness of trees,A lap of mountain mistAll cross my line of sight,Then a bleak wasted place,And a lake below my knees.Full on my neck I feelTheContinue reading “The Night Journey by Theodore Roethke”