“Poem for the South Side” Student Poem
Faina Polt, Fall 2007 Student, shares this poem:
Poem for the South Side
There is a skill in knowing you
that I have yet to master.
With a bitter kindness
in your veins,
my mouth is full of salt when
I press my fingers to you and
feel the hot, thready
pulse of life
gritty and jumping
beneath my touch.
More than breathing,
you are a way to live
and so many lose themselves
in your concrete oceans,
cracked sidewalks, porches,
and bus stops.
This is a love letter to you
who loves so many lightly she has
no energy
to love just one full
and deep.You spread your passion
so thin
you can’t even warm
yourself.
Oh, burning city,
blooming and breaking,
speeding by
outside the dirty windows.
I know it’s wrong
to beg your love,
but you light secret fires in me,
in places I didn’t even know
lacked light,
and I can’t help but add
another hunger
another voice to the chorus of
so many already
on their knees.