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Poem

Pam Brown

City

City

City

a yearned-for somewhere
   adverb-physically
as lost as now
        gazing across
             the chunky valley
to a hill
     of quivering lights

there is no
      destination –
  just a place
        no site
not olympic
              village site
not harbourside
          casino site
nor section
     of expressway
          just east
of where
          coincidence
           has determined
                your residence
in a city
    you returned to
        to remember
            why you left


inventing
   nostalgia
       for elsewhere –
you’ll live there
          in the future
Close

City

a yearned-for somewhere
   adverb-physically
as lost as now
        gazing across
             the chunky valley
to a hill
     of quivering lights

there is no
      destination –
  just a place
        no site
not olympic
              village site
not harbourside
          casino site
nor section
     of expressway
          just east
of where
          coincidence
           has determined
                your residence
in a city
    you returned to
        to remember
            why you left


inventing
   nostalgia
       for elsewhere –
you’ll live there
          in the future

City

Sponsors
Gemeente Rotterdam
Nederlands Letterenfonds
Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds
Prins Bernhard cultuurfonds
Lira fonds
Versopolis
J.E. Jurriaanse
Gefinancierd door de Europese Unie
Elise Mathilde Fonds
Stichting Verzameling van Wijngaarden-Boot
Veerhuis
VDM
Partners
LantarenVenster – Verhalenhuis Belvédère