Poetics 3

I decided to take a walk around an area of North Philly that I volunteer in. It was a rainy day, and I love the sound of rain. It was a short walk, about 8 blocks. It wasn't quite. It was just still. When I turned off of the main street onto smaller block in that neighborhood. I walked by a woman who was standing in the rain. She was so high it seemed like she didn't even know it was raining. She stood in front of an abandoned house swaying back and forth, in a trance-like state. So, I took note. Further down there was a memorial that I've seen time and time again. The police keep throwing the teddy bears and candles away, and people keep putting teddy bears, candles, t-shirts back on the same corner. I can respect that. Too bad the cops can't. If this is the community's outlet to remember someone, who are the cops to take it away? I turned onto this abandoned block. It's completely abandoned with the exception of one home. The houses are burnt out or falling down. One of the doors was blowing back and forth and squeaking on the hinges. I saw all kinds of household belongings in the rumble. There were also a significant amount of sneakers hanging from the wire, about fifteen pairs or all sizes. On to another block where suddenly sirens were blaring and red and blue lights were reflecting off of the rain. The police jumped out grabbing people, unnecessarily aggressive. Some people went into their houses to shut themselves away from the situation. Other came out, or hung out of windows. It was just a sad situation and the women were asking "What is this for? What did I do?" with no response from the police (of course). The cops sped away, and left the block in shock and silence.

I loved writing the poem. I think I'll do it more often. I was relaxing to go for a walk and quitely observe. I think it was different from the ekphrastic poem because it forced us to get out and be a part of a physical environment. The ekphrastic poem allowed us to look a a piece of art and create an environment with ideas and perceptions that could be controlled.