Ny,Ny

[Erstwhile]

The city
Grew me up
Steel structured trees
And cement river roads
Insistent inventive greens
Stretching small between
The sidewalk seams

I imagined then
a child's play
What the land
Held before that then
Present day
and how did it
happen that it
all went away

The city grew me up
Quiet only when the
snow would blow
amazingly quiet
a sound that I did
not know

We played
Hiding go seek
In alley ways
and doors of
apartment buildings
With many,many floors

On summer evenings
we children gathered together
And had Italian ices
to ward off the hot weather

Red light, green light games
took over the block
and the glowing of street lamps
were a child's own clock
Time to go home
It was the end of the day
Inventive and fun
In a city's own way

[allmirth]

I grew up in a small town and not a big city, like New York. Still I recognize the sentiment and it stirs memories of my own childhood. I love the idea of the city growing you up. It gives it a feeling of both life and benevolence . Heartfelt and heartwarming.

Thanks much for sharing.
Mirthy

[JASON]

fantastic - you bring the sights and the sounds of a far more easy going time...
doubt that kids could do that in New York now?
You bring out the specialness of the city with your words and soften
the hard concrete and steel images...super writing.

[Elm46]

Good job. Even in my fairly small town I can relate to childhood/high school shenanigans trodding about the area enjoying the urban nature of things . This makes for a great hide and go seek game, even if your whole written experiences were all hypothetical.

[Donald R Charon]

Our childhood at play is a special place and a powerful place to write from. You caused me to reminisce. My location was more suburban but experiences similar. Thank you for the memories.