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| “The Rock” is constantly repainted with new graffiti. Here it is this morning. It’s probably different by now. |
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| A look into Graffiti Alley in Ann Arbor from 2022. |
My search continues for poetry that works into my life. Thinking of the two places in our town that encourage graffiti artists to express themselves — “The Rock” and Graffiti Alley — I looked for a poem about graffiti, and found a poem titled “Graffiti.” I’m sharing this post with other lovers of street art who post at Sami’s Monday Murals.
I like its description of “looping black script that no one can read.”
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| In Ann Arbor a few years ago: “looping black script.” |
Here are a few lines from “Graffiti,” and a link so that you can read the entire work if you like:
Graffiti
Kitty Goes Kommando and the Goldman Rats — Phooey!
That blue scaffolding holds up the sky. Who did we think
we were padlocking in, or out? Give me that huge
looping black script no one can read, a secret glyph,
and just where someone has smashed the window, Jesus
the Way the Truth the Life and a dented aluminum frame.
…
Hole in the wall, rose sound-hole,
ribbed sounding board — always from fissures and gaps
melody strains as trains thunderclank across
the girdered overpass, a siren keens, and a solitary man
ambles past amputated acacias fisting out with leaves.
Source: Poetry (July/August 2014)
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/57057/graffiti
9 comments:
In the thumbnail that looked gorgeous. Less so in detail....but I think there's a lesson in that in itself! #Muralmondays
Some graffiti just looks messy to me. It is nice they are given a spot to do their graffiti art. Take care, have a great day and a happy new week.
I like graffiti. There is a place for it. Cool!
I like the idea of that stone.
Graffiti can be messy, but some are actually nice and colourful. Thanks for participating in Monday Murals Mae.
There are some things in life I can do without. Graffiti is one of them. At times it seems especially egregious. In an area we walk quite regularly the park abuts a residential section. A fellow had erected a new fence, very nicely done, and quite expensive I am sure. Within days it was defaced with the mindless daubing of moronic idiots, including the enlightened inscription of those memorable and reasoned words “Fuck Trudeau” and a swastika or two for good measure. Yep, I can do without graffiti. Anything I might compose about it would be a requiem not a celebration.,
@David: I agree with you about vandalizing private property like fences, but the graffiti I'm featuring is in places where it's allowed and even appreciated. The third photo is under a bridge on an abutment, which isn't as nice, but also not as terrible.
Graffiti like you've shown works but usually it is just irritating to me, I do love the poem, though.
I've never seen this particular rock, but I remember a similar rock on Block Island, Rhode Island. The colors and writing change periodically as artists try their hand at redecorating it. The name of the rock: Painted Rock. (Of course! :)
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