boogie down shadows

by MVP-Most Valuable Poet

July 29, 2013

I hear the halting footsteps on a sidewalk

In the bronx when the night lets fall

Its veil. I see the shapes of latina girls who pass

To bend and barter at desire's call.

Ah, little dark skin girls who in slippered feet

Go prowling through the night from street to street!

Through the long night until the silver break

Of day the little gray feet know no rest;

Through the lonely night until the last snow-flake

Has dropped from heaven upon the earth's white breast,

The dusky, half-clad girls of tired feet

Are stumbling, thinly shod, from street to street.

Ah, stern harsh world, that in the wretched way

Of poverty, dishonor and disgrace,

Has pushed the timid little feet of clay,

The sacred brown feet of my fallen race!

Ah, heart of me, the weary, weary feet

In the boogie down bronx wandering from street to street.

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Comments (2)

MVP-Most Valuable PoetJul 30, 2013

in this poemshadows meant their existence in this caseall my poems provide a realistic poetic flow and view of the world in my eyesread my other poems and continue to provide supportthank you for comments-means alot

QVJul 30, 2013

There is a melancholy beauty in your poem ("[t]"he sacred brown feet of my fallen race!").I am taken by several images in your piece, such as the veil of night ( echoing in some sense the "vale of tears" and foreshadows the reality of the Bonx) or "little gray feet" (reminiscent of T.S. Eliot's "soiled feet in "Preludes"). Finally, I thought it was interesting how you ended with the word "shadows" (I wonder if you meant the individuals, their actions, or their existence). Since I have never been to New York, your poem gives a realistic, yet (for lack of a better word) poetic view of this world. I too find inspiration from the urban environment, the depths of human suffering (often unnoticed) and its triumphs. Q.V.