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We Are Like New York City: A Poem

Such chaos and balance and finesse!

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We Are Like New York City: A Poem
Wikimedia Commons

We are like New York City.

Where the air reeks of sewage fume.

Where the litter strewn around

also walks aground.

Where a million cursing, slouching, shady types

wander in shade of steel and stone,

searching for hope, they find abuse;

huddled mass and wretched refuse.

Where, shrill and piercing—sirens screech,

Honking, cracking, and clamoring,

a cacophony of commotion

and of dizzying endless motion—


We are also like New York City,

Where liberty’s torch stands raised,

Where skyscrapers thrust high like mighty spears,

towering over each other in symmetrical disarray

each competing for its own place in the sky.

A magnificent and flawed beauty;

Superior to any flawless Creator’s creation.


We are like New York City.

Where the air reeks of sewage fume—

— But damn it! —

What one would give for such perfume!

Such perfect imperfection,

Such chaos and balance and finesse!

That New York City—our beautiful mess.

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