Pittsburgh (James Allen Hall)

My husband was born in Pittsburgh, but I've never been there. However, this poem by James Allen Hall provides a(n unflattering) picture of the city.

I don't think after reading today's poem, anyone would make a beeline for the place. It's kind of neat - all the place names - I bet it's easily identifiable as Pittsburgh if you had any familiarity. I like the feel you get from the lines, the dirty unpleasantness of it.

I wonder if there is a poetic term for poems about places. Something akin to ekphacsis for poems about art. I can think of a few others off the top of my head, so it's definitely a theme.

Sorry to my husband and the city to say that this one paints a grim portrait.

Favorite line: "a sleepless summer I will watch / diminish down to the savaged seed of morning."

a sleepless shimmer I will watch
diminish down to the savaged seed of morning, - See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/23596#sthash.PUIPRYnF.dpuf