The City’s Slow Contagion Poem by noel maddock

Renders my mind’s mouth speechless
As it filters the morphing shapes
And flickering shadows of downtown everyman
Where to slot it all
How to stop from dissolving into metropolitan soup

I maintain a rolling confusion
Stopping and turning and
Doubling back on myself
Marking my territory
I suppose
Sustaining a guessing independence of sorts

Still, I am short of a marker or two
The geometry becomes oppressive
Bird song becomes a subway squeal
Metal trees and plastic flowers
Take the place of inclusion in the world
And we don’t even take offence
Let alone understand what is happening
Everywhere and everyone appear to
Be part of a gigantic metallurgy experiment

Then I see a spar in my shadows personality
An realize this is me and not the city
I’m somewhat sorry for this invention
Always only where I create myself to be