WALKING & WRITING PHILADELPHIA

We could devote an entire course to walk-writing in Philadelphia, exploring the long relationship between walking and writing as it relates to the city. Some sources that come to mind...

On walking in Philadelphia:
Hollis Alpert, "Philadelphia: Plans and Pigeons"
George Barton, Little Journeys Around Old Philadelphia
Charles Henry White, "Philadelphia"
Christopher Morley, Christopher Morley's Philadelphia

The streets of Philadelphia are generalized in Springsteen's eponymous song, but they're there in this sort of walk lyric:

Streets Of Philadelphia

I was bruised and battered I couldn't tell what I felt
I was unrecognizable to myself
I saw my reflection in a window I didn't know my own face
Oh Brother are you gonna leave me wastin' away
On the streets of Philadelphia

I walked the avenue 'til my legs felt like stone
I heard the voices of friends vanished and gone
At night I could hear the blood in my veins
Black and whispering as the rain
On the streets of Philadelphia

Ain't no angel gonna greet me
It's just you and I, my friend
My clothes don't fit me no more
I walked a thousand miles
Just to slip this skin

The night has fallen, I'm lyin' awake
I can feel myself fading away
So receive me brother with your faithless kiss
Or will we leave each other alone like this
On the streets of Philadelphia

While not a walk lyric, here are the lyrics to Neil Young's "Philadelphia." Also note what we were talking about the other day viz prosopopoiea ["making/giving face"] in the speaker's addressing the city as a person:

Philadelphia

Sometimes I think that I know
What love's all about
And when I see the light
I know I'll be all right.

I've got my friends in the world,
I had my friends
When we were boys and girls
And the secrets came unfurled.

City of brotherly love,
Place I call home,
Don't turn your back on me
I don't want to be alone.

Someone is talking to me,
Calling my name,
Tell me I'm not to blame
I won't be ashamed of love.

Philadelphia,
City of brotherly love.
Brotherly love.

Sometimes I think that I know
What love's all about
And when I see the light
I know I'll be all right.
Philadelphia.

--Neil Young

Edgar Allen Poe's "The Elk/Morning on the Wissahickon"

Of course, there are many other examples of walk-based writings on Philadelphia, and I'll post more as I think of them.
And feel free to add to the list!

PHILADELPHIA CALENDAR POEM

I enjoyed reading all the writings from our in-class collaborative Philadelphia calendar poem. I chose my favorite passages and assembled them into one poem (see below). My selection of favorites is based on imagery that is vivid versus abstract/vague and specific to a Philadelphia calendar versus a Baltimore calendar, an "anywhere" calendar, etc. I don't understand some of the images and how they relate to the month (April ducks? May wrap-up?), but these lines, interspersed throughout the poem, keep the reader attentive and a little off balance--that is to say, alert to the occasion of the poem. For this reason, I also added a few abstract/vague passages (month of new lives or great returns; month of the unwinding). There is a cylinder in "calendar," and so you may see and hear how December's trees turn to January's trash (which turns to trees, and so on...).

January
month of pines in trashbags
month of icicles and frozen streets
month of Mummers and bums
month of snowed-in SEPTA buses and slushy sidewalks

February
month of vibrant colors and loud mufflers
month of black ice and slow clocks

March
month of cheesesteaks and green relief

April
month of ducks and flooded gutters and floating trash

May
month of Mary and mothers
month of the wrap-up

June
month of Odunde
month of crepe trucks and high suns and long nights
month of vacations and iced coffee
month of full park benches

July
month of the bell and crazies in the crosswalks
month of tourists and revolutionaries and independents

August
month of steamy concrete and hot hazy days
month of new lives or great returns

September
month of SEPTA rides
month of leaves
month of the unwinding

October
month of ghost tours and fear and masks
month of burnt-orange gourds and dead leaves
month of champions and riots

November
month of cold shadows
month of candles and naps

December
month of city hall Christmas trees
month of sparkling trees