On The Street Where I Live - Writers Forum

**Penelope** · 06-18-2005, 10:49 AM

Inside of suburban sprawl,
outside of center’s skyscrapers
the houses don’t pass middle age,
for the rage is to demolish
bungalows and erect behemoths.

Two more bit the dust
in as many weeks.
Sad splinters of timber
shoveled into dumpsters
with yards of plastered lathe.

Plywood claptrap slapped
over pitched up box frames.
Square feet of living room
eats up the green space
and beats out garden plots.

To look at the newly finished facades,
faux brick topped with tile roofs,
concrete lions at the gates,
(spitting curses at passerby's)
there’s no sense of caveat emptor.

Known as Vancouver ‘specials’.
On dog eared menus every day
where property is precious,
because we’ve run out of virgin space
in our packed paradise rat race.

PFA
18/06/05

Psycho6058 · 06-18-2005, 11:17 AM

I wish you'd send this to Donald Trump. Nice work Penelope. It reminds me of the joke about how odd people are to build sky scrapers so they can go up to the top and look through binoculars to see the street below them.

journyman161 · 06-19-2005, 02:35 AM

And every time they change the landscape we lose a little more individuality & everything fades a little more into city sprawl.

This could be an epitaph to community.

**Penelope** · 06-19-2005, 10:18 AM

What is really sad to me is I can't remember the houses once they're torn down. I know when my house is sold it will suffer the same fate even though it was built in 1949 and has years of life left in it. It's a regular occurance in Vancouver and I believe the community spirit died a long time ago in most places.

EmuJenkins · 06-19-2005, 03:11 PM

It reminds me of this poem called 'A City Called Queen' by Raymond Souster. It is definately worth looking up. It's about cities ruining nature and ruining his inspiration. Definately look for it.

**Penelope** · 06-19-2005, 06:45 PM

I just love it when something I write reminds a reader of something else written. It tells me it's memorable. Thank you! I will go look for this poem right now!

Mikan_J_C · 06-19-2005, 07:02 PM

Well I still live here in good 'ol St. John's, the oldest city in North America. Sure there's quite a degree of industrialization but it's mostly new houses going up around here. No big skyscrapers and whatnot, just way more subdivisions than we need. I've no aspiration to live in a huge city, this small one's good enough for me

**Penelope** · 06-19-2005, 11:08 PM

I won't be living here when I stop working. I'll be away to the other island to my adopted home town. It's got much more development than it used to but they haven't built a bridge .... yet.

Drucifer · 06-19-2005, 11:13 PM

Very interesting... reminds me of here, where farmland is quickly giving way to subdivisions.

I did like the ease at which the images came across, and it really drove the point home.

Nice job.

Achilles · 06-19-2005, 11:28 PM

A wonderful poem Penelope. I have been born and raised in a fairly city environment, but I always seem to find myself in nature. I guess I'm just against metropolises and the changing of old ways. Thanks for this reminder.

**Penelope** · 06-19-2005, 11:43 PM

Drucifer - here in the lower mainland there are 'green belts' which had been set aside for farming. They build golf courses in these areas because the pay back in farming isn't as viable. I suppose golf courses are green space but it doesn't feed anyone.

Achilles - Vancouver does boast a large number of parks and most of the development is where industry used to thrive. It's a beautiful city with a stunning backdrop of mountains and ocean. The buyers want 'new' and the builders meet those demands. The boom began in 1986 after Expo and has continued unabated. I just saw the development plans for the 2010 Olympics and it's going to be more of the same for quite some time. The opinion is that it will be like San Francisco or London where property values will only keep going up. Lucky me - I own my house.

Thanks for commenting.