Sunday, January 18, 2015

The City of Luxuriant Smiles!

                                                                                                    Attribution: Mplaja
Image: Fun of a Welcoming Crowd (here)

never had it so good!
standing at the crossroads
been told one needed to be led in
much like being seated at a restaurant
the respect accorded professed at a height
none were rebuffed nor needed to recoil
led in with pomp and pageantry
profusion of love
where once a beggar scrubbed clean
led in with respect pristine with fine clothes
garbed as others before him
sparkles of smiles from everyone
greeted with passion

who did we have here
wherefore the crowd

a school ma’am alongside the cheeky girl
holding hands intently
so did the peasant and ferocious landowner
docile as a circus lion now standing together
the shrewd money-lender
slave-driver and office head-banger
the politicians and contractors
the classic duo of exploiters
the torturer and even the cruel step-mother
all in a chorus welcoming new entrants
into the City of Luxuriant Smiles

forgetting the woes of the wicked world
of wars and destruction
of traumatic faces of the deprived
of those raising tension and violence
to push sales of their wares
the treasonous crowd out there 
if only they were in the City
never had it so good!

For Kerry's hosting at Real Toad's
Sunday's Mini Challenge - in other words and
Mary's at Poets United's Poetry Pantry #235

29 comments:

  1. Maybe there is a price behind any smile...what a clever and thoughtful write Hank

    ReplyDelete
  2. the City of Luxuriant Smiles.... what a place...eh... and if you look a bit closer the smiles peel off like old paint..

    ReplyDelete
  3. Smiles -- they can hide so much. Luxuriant, it's often even worse.. painted as a cover up.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I really like the list if contrasting characters as they harmonize in the crowd.

    ReplyDelete
  5. So much life and expectation, a place within the walls of anticipation.

    ReplyDelete
  6. i wish they weren't wearing masks. as they say, smile is the most important thing you wear everyday.

    ReplyDelete
  7. City of Luxuriant Smiles sounds like quite a fascinating place with its collection of people!

    ReplyDelete
  8. those smiles do not come cheap...and neither does life in the city.....it chews up as many as it lets survive it....

    ReplyDelete
  9. maybe hope for people to ignore their difference... if genuine

    ReplyDelete
  10. What a creative title, like an ad full of deception of wicked world ~

    ReplyDelete
  11. A smile can be many a thing, hardly ever real and easily faked as $$$ wins the day

    ReplyDelete
  12. Smile does a lot of wonders to the one giving it and to the receiver, generally impacting the world. :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. We can likely hope for a place like that, but who needs what when we can effortlessly make one with the abundant smiles we naturally have.

    - ksm

    ReplyDelete
  14. it has to be a great place, where you can escape from the conflicts of our world. a hopeful representation of an ideal world... and yet saddening because it is not much probable. I loved how you brought everyone together in this city, where everyone can start anew. Well-penned.
    -HA

    ReplyDelete
  15. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Quite a vision, Kerry and stimulating read - thank you so much... With Best Wishes Scott www.scotthastie.com

    ReplyDelete
  17. This is very clever, Hank. I LOVE the title, and the idea of a place where such unlikely people hold hands. I wonder how long they'd remain benign, once the smiles came off. Good one, Hank!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Whew! I think you covered it all.
    ZQ

    ReplyDelete
  19. I like the cityscape to some degree, but I also enjoy a little mixture of nature too. There is a good story being told in this poem that covers both of these ideas. Nature and the city should live in perfect harmony.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Wonderful write. The City of Smiles sounds like a great place to visit!

    ReplyDelete
  21. I appreciate the appreciative tone in this piece. A delight to read and encouragement too.

    ReplyDelete
  22. I smiled the whole time I read this. So we might not have an entire city of smiles, but there is a huge grin in New York City. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  23. What a dream, a city of smiles. I would love to go there.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Smiles- so deceptive and so alluring

    ReplyDelete
  25. A smile begins in the eyes = thats where the mask comes off. Nice

    ReplyDelete
  26. As SuyashJ says... it sounds so great but the people you mention, oooh

    ReplyDelete