Bowery Afternoon
by Lola Ridge (1873)
Ready by Emma Rye: http://vocaroo.com/i/s0dujmQJw0tdhttp://vocaroo.com/i/s0dujmQJw0td
Drab discoloration
Of faces, façades, pawn-shops,
Second-hand clothing,
Smoky and fly-blown glass of lunch-rooms,
Odors of rancid life. . .
Deadly uniformity
Of eyes and windows
Alike devoid of light. . .
Holes wherein life scratches—
Mangy life
Nosing to the gutter’s end. . .
Show-rooms and mimic pillars
Flaunting out of their gaudy vestibules
Bosoms and posturing thighs. . .
Over all the Elevated
Droning like a bloated fly.
Retrieved from: https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/bowery-afternoon
