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The Alleys

I was welcome in a palace when the ball was at my feet,
I was petted in a garden and my triumph was complete.
But for me above the alleys there forever shone a star,
Where the third-rate public houses and the dens of Venus are.
Where the third-rate public houses
And the fourth-rate lodging houses,
And the rag-shops and the pawn-shops and the dens of Venus are.
I was born among the alleys, bred in darkness and in doubt,
And I wrote the truth in blindness and I struggled up and out;
And the world was fair before me and the way was wide and plain,
But the spirit of the alleys ever dragged me back again.
’Tis a madness I inherit
And a blind and reckless spirit.
Oh! the spirit of the alleys ever drags me down again!

There were fair girls in the garden where the spring came in a day,
But the barmaids in the alleys know a wider world than they.
There were wise men in the palace who were born to rule the earth,
But the wrecks amongst the alleys know the world for what it’s worth.
To the pewter from the chalice,

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poem by Henry Lawson
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Concrete

Dedicated to I.B. and K.L.

I rode with you in the city
and in my mind I was sleeping on his shoulder
the time to smile has passed for us
it’s gone, it’s but that doesn’t mean it’s over

I have said I loved
so many things, so many people in my life
my soul aches to this day to find
some truth inside those empty lies

but there are still the echoes
they travel through the alleys and bend
as we write in the concrete
love lies at the rainbow’s end

I walked with you on sidewalks
in places I had never seen
I trusted you with my heartfelt words,

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poem by Jade Leven
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The Women of the Town

It is up from out the alleys, from the alleys dark and vile—
It is up from out the alleys I have struggled for a while—
Just to breathe the breath of Heaven ere my devil drags me down,
And to sing a song of pity for the women of the town.

Johnnies in the private bar room, weak and silly, vain and blind—
Even they would shrink and shudder if they knew the hell behind,
And the meanest wouldn’t grumble when he’s bilked of half-a-crown
If he knew as much as I do of the women of the town.

For I see the end too plainly of the golden-headed star
Who is smiling like an angel in the gilded private bar—
Drifting to the third-rate houses, drifting, sinking lower down
Till she raves in some foul parlour with the women of the town.

To the dingy beer-stained parlour all day long the outcasts come—
Draggled, dirty, bleared, repulsive, shameless, aye, and rotten some—
They have sold their bodies and would sell their souls for drink to drown
Memories of wrong that haunt them—haunt the women of the town.

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poem by Henry Lawson
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Wind Rising in The Alleys

Wind rising in the alleys
My spirit lifts in you like a banner streaming free of hot walls.
You are full of unspent dreams….
You are laden with beginnings….
There is hope in you… not sweet… acrid as blood in the mouth.
Come into my tossing dust
Scattering the peace of old deaths,
Wind rising in the alleys,
Carrying stuff of flame.

poem by Lola Ridge
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Deep Ways

Deep alleys, clammy alleys, and black butchers
Find childlike hearts in their hearts tonight.
Bewildered by the changing of the seasons,
We link the bend of the road to astounding success.
Chilly storms bewilder me after the cloudy mayhem,
Bespeaking a dark rain of cheerfulness afterwards.
Boil it after the sense of extinguishment orders
Our own sense, the very heavenly sense.

poem by Naveed Akram
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I had been lost deep into the big city (free verse pantoum)

I had been lost deep into the big city,
in alleys circling almost endless around me
with only the fuel fumes
hanging almost cuddling around.

In alleys circling almost endless around me
I could not find my way in the darkness
hanging almost cuddling around,
I could not even see the stars.

I could not find my way in the darkness
with only the fuel fumes,
I could not even see the stars:
I had been lost deep into the big city.

poem by Gert Strydom
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2-Lost Words

In the dark alleys of my mind
They run about.
Sometimes lost, sometimes found.
Sometimes emerging faintly through the dark
Sometimes vanishing in thin air.
They emerge, only to half-disappear.
Only the sounds of laughter left behind,
Perhaps tiny footprints here and there.

As I sit to recreate these
In dark silent dead nights
On blank non-reflective sheets
Less than half-the-words stare up-

Rest are lost beyond recovery
In the dark alleys of my mind.

poem by Shreya Chatterjee
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Hostel

I rang the bell…
Impatient and dour
From the stride
In the drunken alleys
Deluged by the moon
Searching for a place,
A stale room
Inept and incomparable
To the grandest places
Stashed in the foliage
Of sunken pockets
Of gnarled hallways

A place
Where I am found
Welcomed
Nursed
Injected with fire
Bloated and ballooned
To take flight

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poem by Norman Santos
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Alleys In The Sky

There are alleys in the sky
And the alleys are in the back of the houses
That God built
So that people could live in the sky
Across from the houses in the sky
Is a huge park
And in that park the kids can play soccer
On the grass
But the grass is always cut at the park in the sky
By God's personal gardener
And God's gardener doesn't use any pesticide on the grass or on the Trees
So the sky is a pesticide free zone that was declared by God
And God is happy to live in a pesticide free world
Also there are no cars in the sky
And the people who live in the sky ride horses
Because horses doesn't pollute the sky like cars do
And the horses are white
Like the clouds.

poem by Aldo Kraas
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Shred's of Light

Being blinded by my life
I take the back city alleys
Avoiding the harsh concrete jungle
Of highways and byways of past valleys
Too much-too soon-way too soon
Negative heart beats-a rapid fire stream
Adrenalin of fear fuels my heart to go
Needing flight but near impossible dream
I take off swiftly running instead
Pebbles they stick underneath my feet
Lead into an opposite direction
Into frays of questionable beings deceit
Holed up in hobbles of cardboard
An addict is jonesing near by me
Cries in the night strung out alarming
A break in my armour near complete
Turning around toward the Psalms of David(Verse23)
Facing the music is now a done deal
Out of the back city alleys i ardently leap
Into the light of the world's real

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poem by Theodora Onken
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