China Town

I was reminded of Ezra Pound’s ‘In a Station of the Metro’ in New York Subway. The city was gigantic and tall but despite its huge scale, I couldn't help but notice the decay and ruin. I thought I would try to capture the existentialism that Pound achieves in his poem.  

 

New York

Chinese rooftops and unfamiliar sounds

Paper dragons on sticks held by migrant workers

Littered sidewalks eroded by a stiletto heel

Snow now mud in Central Park

Subway tiles once white.

 

Revision

In Chinatown rooftops rain unfamiliarity

And littered sidewalks worn by this stiletto shoe -

Tiles once white.