Empty City



Original DDE™ surrealistic art: “Empty City” by: rob kistner © 1/16/24


 
This city is my zip code
but it is not where I “live”
never has been

to me
this city
as are most cities
is empty of heart
void of soul

this city
that vibrates
with the rush and chaos
of synapse and sinew

this city
that vibrates
with the hum of networked urgency
data outdistancing comprehension
often the we can
beyond the reach
of should we

this city
teeming
with college’d clones
like-patterned minds
that surge with ambition
that submit to the agendas
good or bad
dreaming of early retirement
fearing an early death

this city
bedecked in stainless
and stone
poured
erected
glassen’d

this city
ablaze in halogen
aglow in neon
awash in tears
of the poor

this city
its haughty monoliths
of varying shape
differing size
flanked in concrete corridors
that criss and cross
blink and beep
that ring buzz belch hiss
— and stink

this city
that intimidates
in cold and calculated majesty

this empty city
as do most
abuses the human soul
it does not nurture

no
it does not offer solace
to my human core


Original DDE™ surrealistic art: “Folded Petal’s Mystery”
by: rob kistner © 1/16/24

that seeks the folded petal’s mystery
that marvels at the smallness
of a changing frond

at the tart-sweet scent’d
gnarled bark
of mighty conifer monoliths
thrusting ever skyward

or the magic
of a budding branch

this city
does not touch my spirit
soothed by wind and water
thrilled by song of birds
or the swoop of hawks

this city
does not spark my wonder
stirred by the yelp
or bark
or bleat
of beasts

this city
cannot reach my soul
that needs to see a salmon’s trek
the open sky
the roll of unobstructed clouds
see the fall of stars

this city
has nothing for my soul
that needs to hear the crack of thunder
resound for miles across the plane
then off the mountain’s face

that needs the fresh embrace of rain
the crisp and quiet drift of snow
the hues and sway of living fields

this city
leaves my spirit cold
that needs to watch the orchard
blossom and bloom to fruit
see forests
thick beyond horizons
or feel the lift of cresting surf

no
this city
does not satisfy my need
to know the evolving natural wonders
that inspire
that swell my soul
that resonate my heart

this city
does not hold my soul

and so I look beyond
for my tomorrow

*

humans stacked in cubes
compressed so their soul can’t breathe
this is not the way


humans need nature
the heart and mind must be free
break the concrete cage

*


Original DDE™ surrealistic art: “Future Balanced City”
by: rob kistner © 1/16/24

*

rob kistner © 2024

Poetry at: dVerse

 




40 thoughts on “Empty City”

    1. I pleased this piece carried you along Donna. I tried to make the city elements move a bit cluttered and chaotic, while the nature pieces flow a bit more sumptuous. Love the Talking Heads. Always loved David Byrne’s perspective. 🙂

      Reply

  3. I love that your poem, like mine and other, has all the same elements that engulf the cities and make them unappealing, for me mostly those darned, glass-box buildings that seem to be everywhere. I do hope we both get to see the cities change and be more Nature-like and get back their souls.

    Reply

    1. That is my greatest wish Oloriel, but I fear we may have tipped the scales to the point that we will never be able to get back to a “nature-balanced” city environment. I hope I’m wrong as hell. 😐

      Reply

    1. It is definitely not for me. It was when I was playing in rock and roll bands, when I was traveling for Lucasfilm LTD, and when my wife and I traveled selling our artwork in juried art shows — but once my health began to fail, and I rediscovered the healing energies of wild nature, I never looked back. Ironically, my adopted father had introduced me to the mysteries and magic of wild nature when I was a young person. But when I became an older teen, began driving as a young adult, I forgot what he had shown me.

      Reply

  7. Rob, this piece of yours poignantly contrasts the lifeless urban landscape with the yearning for the profound connection found in nature… And your haiku succinctly emphasizes the need to break free from the concrete cage. Well done, my friend.

    ~David

    Reply

  8. I think that many cities are like this, too much to fit all at once… that said I think some European cities has found a better balance of history, nature and a public life that can be wonderful and sparkling.

    Reply

  9. I love the way you describe a city ‘that vibrates / with the rush and chaos / of synapse and sinew’, which is so palpable, Rob, and the image of a city ‘bedecked in stainless / and stone / poured / erected / glassen’d’. My favourite lines, the list of three:
    ‘ablaze in halogen
    aglow in neon
    awash in tears’
    and the beauty in:
    ‘…seeks the folded petal’s mystery
    that marvels at the smallness
    of a changing frond
    at the tart-sweet scent’d
    gnarled bark
    of mighty conifer monoliths
    thrusting ever skyward’.
    That’s where I prefer to be.

    Reply

  10. It seems you have had enough of the concrete jungle, Rob! I like your staccato, choppy lines describing what you don’t like. We can’t show love for what we don’t like. ????

    Thanks for joining in, my friend.

    Reply

  11. Reading your poem, I felt myself in the heart of the city, swallowed up somehow. It led me to consider that whenever I visit a city, I am drawn to parks and green spaces or the rivers and oceans they are built beside…always looking for the edges of the city ‘bedecked in stainless/ and stone/ poured/ erected/ glassen’d’. Beautiful language. Thanks.

    Reply

  13. I felt this deeply having spent a decade on a mountainside and many years in rural areas. The city never fulfills the deep soul need for numinous connection or awe. Love all the places you took us away from the city.

    Reply

  14. I really enjoyed this poem and could feel the city constricting me as I read. I loved…
    this city
    its haughty monoliths
    of varying shape
    differing size
    flanked in concrete corridors
    that criss and cross
    blink and beep
    that ring buzz belch hiss
    — and stink

    You brought buildings to life… rather unpleasant type of life. 🙂
    And thank goodness you took us back to nature where I could finally breathe. To seek a folded petals mystery…nice! 🙂

    Reply

  16. Wow! There is so much truth in this epic of a poem!

    this city
    has nothing for my soul
    that needs to hear the crack of thunder
    resound for miles across the plane
    then off the mountain’s face

    I love these lines. They are just what you need after the previous stanzas of the cacophony of the overcrowded empty city.
    Amazing. ????

    Reply

  18. I get this. I agree with your notion of the city out of control where so many things are done in the context of must, without the question of should? Our city of Melbourne has historically been a place of many green spaces and gardens, but increasing population density is putting a strain on this blessing. “Must we?” is a good question to ask here and now before our relationship with our city turns to the one you so accurately and bitterly describe.

    Reply

    1. Anytime and anywhere human’s stack themselves into piles — the bad and sad is inevitable, Sean. Way way too many human’s on the planet, way too little human kindness, and very little useful insight. We are a shallow-thinking rampant virus, eating our host. And the arrogant theocratically inflicted among us, in their shelf-righteous stupidity, denounces birth control. Anyone with their eyes open, and their minds logically engaged, can see the deadly dangers of religion holding the reins, and over reaching regional government. The god-in-my-pocket mentality has been the scourge of humanity since time began. God does not talk to anyone, nor has anyone been confirmed or deemed by some poorly conceived human construct they’ve projected as “god”, to tell any portion of humanity how to live. If we ever truly reach the life-game level of “civilized”, we won’t need all these ridiculous isms, or this misguided, self-imposed monitoring. That day may come, if we survive long enough as a species — though evidence seems to support that we will yet again, simply be a major extinction species. And to think that we as a species, understand for one moment, the complexity and depth of the eternal omnipotent energy that sustains the universes – or that we can name it, and even more ludicrously, communicate with it, is simply insecurity at its absurd, and most dangerous, worst. Everyone needs to just settle down. We have got so fucking much to learn, and will never learn it with our minds shut, and our mouths open. 😐 IMHO

      Reply

  19. My sentiments, exactly.

    I used to live in a mega city so this words resonate quite loudly –

    “this city
    does not hold my soul

    and so I look beyond
    for my tomorrow”

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.