Saturday 6 February 2016

Citylife (February 6, 2016)



White tears
From the Heavens
Fall.

Covering
The barren grey landscape
Temporary
In a blanket
Before melting away.

Hiding
The countless kilometres
Of asphalt ribbon.

That scars
The landscape
As far as
One can see.

Surrounded by
Tall sterile towers
Popping up
Haphazardly
Like mushrooms
On the street's edge.

As people scurry
To and fro
From these modern ant colonies
Without knowing
Their next store neighbour's
Name.

City planners
Tell us
It's the way
Of the future.

As cities need
To get more
And more denser.

In reversing
Their philosophy
Of the last 50 years
Where urban sprawl
Reign supreme.

Not having a car
Marked you
As being poor.

Public transit was
A distant afterthought
For the politicians.

Now
Cities and towns
Are playing catch-up
In correcting
Their narrowed mindedness
As the billions flow
Into these massive projects.

Never mind
These endless roads
Are approaching
Their best before date.

Thus
Requiring billions more
To keep them
At peak efficiency
For the growing economy.

Ever conscious
Of voters' volatile mood
Politicians refuse
To raise taxes
Needed to cover
These growing expenses.

Forgetting
We elected them
For bold and decisive
Leadership.

(Well
Leadership
At least.)

And not
This political waffling.

Scared to make
A firm stand
On anything
That might raise taxes.

As the city
Crumbles
Around their council chairs.


Therisa © 2016




Author's note: Originally inspired, by the light flurries that flew, on Friday morning (February 5, 2016), as I scurried, to make it, to a 10 am doctor appointment, about my future need to inject myself, with Insulin. Around the way, I have to travel through, a very densely populated area, called St Jamestown, which is getting even higher level of density, with the construction of luxury apartments, in this high priority needs area. In which, a local supermarket was closed, for this construction, leaving the area bare, for this necessity, without having to travelling a long distance of transit, to find food.

2 comments:

Mary said...

You have really given a vivid picture of 'the city.' All changes are definitely not for the better!

Therisa's World said...

Sadly, Toronto has earned a very bad reputation for destroying its past, to build new buildings, without a second thought of the surrounding community or the heritage of the lost structure.

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