This photograph has so many meanings, so many stories…can you feel it?

Photo:  Documerica
Unsplash

I find things like this absolutely beautiful. Heavy metal, artistic, purposeful and just plant cool.

Photo:  Deborah L. Carlson
Unsplash

Environment…

Not everyone likes cities.  It doesn’t matter whether we were city born or not.  Cities can sometimes be in a person’s blood.  The noise, the beauty, the ENERGY, the hustle and bustle, the skyscrapers, the hum, and the danger, can call to those who can hear its song.  But not everyone is comfortable there.  Others long for open spaces, streams and a more quiet atmosphere.

I think everything in life is played out on a bell curve, with people who can’t live anywhere but a city, those who can live anywhere at all, and those who can’t live anywhere but the country.  In between those points, people just lean one way or the other.

The important thing is to be where we belong.  Environment is so incredibly important to our happiness.  That includes our living space.  We don’t have to have tons of money, we just have to have things we love around us.  Never underestimate the importance of our surroundings.   There are those who believe that things don’t matter, and maybe that’s true for them.  Or maybe they just don’t realize that they’re missing something.  The truth of the matter is that for many of us, maybe even most, the things around us enhance, or detract, from our lives in a big way.  Live with what you love because life is short.

 

Photo:  Rodrigo Sümmer
Unsplash

Darkness…

walking
from the light
into the darkness
takes courage
our species cannot see
in the dark
bad things
can happen in darkness
because of that

we light up the night
with street lamps
and anything else we
can find
cities burn
brightly
with neon
we do everything we can
to push back the darkness
but the darkness
remains
and there has to be a
reason
for our inability to see
in darkness
it gives something else
an advantage over us

the darkness controls us
unless we carry
our own light
and even then
that light
can only go
so far
it can never
keep us safe
once we are inside
the shadows

Photo:  Pixabay

Cities…a poem

cities
can be dangerous
especially at night
as a species
humans
can’t see in the dark
unfortunately
a lot of
other things
can

And then there were none…

Image

City streets…

when city streets
are DARK and
EMPTY
stay inside
no one truly knows
what wakes up
when night falls
sometimes
you have time to
SCREAM
and sometimes
you don’t
it all depends
on what
catches you

City streets…a poem

streets are like arteries
carrying people to and from
side streets are the veins
narrow and everywhere
a city can’t live without
arteries and veins
they allow
the heart of the city
to keep beating

Never go into the park at night…

never go into
the park at night
the second you step in
stillness
will wrap around you
your senses
will become hyper aware
you will hear
every sound
your entire body
will be on high alert
and for good reason
monsters
live in the park
and when
they come out to play
under the cover of
darkness
they will be
the last thing
you ever
see

Cities…

I just read a quote that said, “…every city has a sex and an age that has nothing to do with demography…”  I think that’s true.

Chicago is a strong, no nonsense, woman, who ages well, even if she is frustrated, some of the time.  She’s caring and protective and about thirty-seven.  She’s all about education and beauty.  The lake is part of her and keeps her grounded and in place, even though I think she would like to travel, now and then.  I think she has a sense of humor, or else she’d kill all of us, but she has to keep an eye on us so we don’t kill ourselves.  She likes flowers and the lions in front of the Art Institute.  She loves skyscrapers and recognizes those of us she considers hers, being born in her arms.  She’s nurturing, but she can be strict and you don’t want to get her angry, or the storms she creates, while exciting and energetic, can wear you out.  I don’t think she’s grateful, since she thinks that’s silly and a waste of time.  She expects us to do the right thing.  She’s filled with life and unbound joy, but she doesn’t mess around.  Chicago is hard, it doesn’t bend easily.  It teaches us to keep our eyes open and to take care of ourselves.  It’s a tough city.

Paris, on the other hand, is soft and loves pleasure, in all it’s forms.  Food, sex, art, everything.  It’s all about beauty and white buildings, open space and gardens.  Everything is there to touch our senses.  It’s a delicious place to be.  Definitely female, around forty, so she has experience but isn’t jaded.  She loves the finer things in life and thinks leisure is for everyone.  She’s a party girl, who will try anything. Eclairs, desserts, and beautiful delicacies.  Love locks. Passion.  Paris is the center of the world.

Rome, definitely male around forty-five.  Close, thick buildings, earth tones, earthy.  The fields and food, straight from someone’s hands.  Competition, churches, art and beauty, religion.  The David.  Di Vinci, Michelangelo, fountains. Heavy food, red, sauces, delicious, fresh, hearty.  Louder.  Messier.  People are alive, not holding back but living larger.  More open.

Florence,  female, a mature woman, more refined and chic, than Rome.  Tidy.  Beautiful and smart.

These are the biggest cities I’ve ever been in.  This is how I see them.  Paris really does capture a person’s heart.  You hardly notice it, at first, but then, when you’re ready to leave, you know that not all of you will be going home.  Part of you stays in Paris forever.  That’s just the way she is.  You fall in love with her and never fully recover.  She takes your heart, as her due, and adds it to the collection of every other heart left behind by others.