suburban blues

suburban blues

 

 

on Complacent Street

the houses all look  the same

the lawns exact,

swing sets adorn each yard

fences painted alike

 

a row of mailboxes

one from another only by numbers

we live like numbers

personalities are absorbed 

into sameness

 

Gardens of like flowers

porches all with matching lawn furniture

"unique" an archaic word

doorbells all in harmony

blend in symphonic pattern

but the song remains the same as

 

Wait, I hear Led Zeppelin playing

from a basement

they all have basements and attics

painted in mirrored color

look at themselves stuck in a corresponding

world

 

that song? Hear it?

is it sifting out from just one of the houses?

has someone broken the pattern?

identical is just incidental now

 

someone has repainted a mailbox Blue

the rest are...

What it is

 

What it is

What

it

 

is.

 

 

 

erin-cilberto

5/18/2023

Reviews

[W. Barrett Munn]

They have planted a Robert I bet. What happened to Jerry Garcia? Deadhead doorbells would be cool.

Winston

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Yes, they would be cool. Planted a Robert...clever.
j.

[Ladysue]

Like the title a lot. ‘Suburb blues’-‘a complacent street’ great line. It is like living in a bubble. A cult of alikeness so to speak. How boring life would be if we were all alike. This poem spoke to me. Great last lines. Excellently written.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your kind review, Ladysue,
j.

[Desert Knave]

"... on Complacent Street the houses all look the same". Growing up in the era of tract houses in a quickly growing city this one speaks to me. Really well done. ~Jim

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Thank you for your kind words, Jim,
j.

[Chris Shaw]

Oh to be different. Who wants to be identical to all the rest? Individuality doesn’t mean you can’t be happy. More and more developments of housing estates where all the properties look the same. Not what I would want J.

Chris

[jacob erin-cilberto]

so true, so true...me either.
thank you, Chris,
j.

[John the Baptist]

Makes me think of Pete Seeger's old song, "Little Houses." I think what the beats rebelled against was the type of conformity described in the poem. Yet what you see in many modern housing developments is more of the same.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Yes, conformity....all of us rebelled...and yet here we are...back to the same.
thank you, John,
j.

[light and ashes]

So much to be said, jacob..and I just cant.
Great writing.
I love how you write.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you, Light, appreciate your kind words.
j.

[light and ashes]

You are very welcome.

[Julie McCarthy (juliesp..]

Used google yes it was the Truman show

[Julie McCarthy (juliesp..]

The stepford wives I watched years ago
And also Jim Carey’s movie I can’t recall the name where he was the main movie character wracking my old brain here lol

Anyway your poem reminds me of that the postbox was blue and zeppelin played loved that in your write

I hope all the neighbours came over to hear the music and borrow his records and get some life into the street

Loved this one Jacob people conform too much too scared to show their true colours

[jacob erin-cilberto]

ah yes, both such interesting movies...Katherine Ross, and Paula Prentiss...thank you, Julie.
j.

[FGFRANKLIN]

It sounds like a bad case of blasé. Nothing is the same. Snowflakes, DNA, fingerprints, If it is disguised as familiar and mundane you can be certain it's anything but. But it's not me playing the LZ. I'd be more likely listening to The Allman Brothers or The Band. I enjoyed.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Both excellent groups...thank you for your words, Fabian,
j.

[red93]

Really Excellent Jacob. ' Another Pleasant Valley Sunday / Here in status symbol land ... '

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Thank you, red,
j.