A prisoner on a tight leash.
A rubber high rise bends
To leer in jest through tinted windows.
Wardens wield coloured lights,
To hold the weary captive to their whims.
Conspiring concrete blocks crowd,
casting malicious shadows
From every street corner.
I've tried to outrun the city -
Reject it; forget it.
It will not cast me out -
And I am caught
In its continuous pattern -
Its infinite, mesmerising maze.
© Strauss
24/10/2011
For Magpie 88
image: Lee Friedlander, from America by Car
ha. i have tried to outrun where i live as well...does not seem to work for me either....surreal at points but i like that...smiles.
ReplyDelete"Its infinite, mesmerising maze."
ReplyDeleteVery good. Catch what Whitman had to say on the same topic...
Love the continuity/juxtaposition of the images!
ReplyDelete... you explained the lure, the charm, the intoxicating impact a city can have on some!
ReplyDeleteI love the notion of trying to outrun the city...
ReplyDeleteRubber highrise -- nice!
ReplyDeleteWardens wield coloured lights,
ReplyDeleteTo hold the weary captive to their whims.
Encapsulates the whole feeling of being stuck helpless in a traffic jam with no control over the outcome.
And cities grab us all at some point...
ReplyDeleteThe city is a Martin Escher cage. Wherever you try to go you get back to where you started.
ReplyDelete