Author: nakedcitiesjournal

Naked Cities Journal attempts to bring together a number of passions that have captivated me over a lifetime: a love of exploring the urban landscape and its extraordinarily diverse range of places and spaces; a love of journeys both internal and external; a love of keeping writer’s notebooks; and a love of Urban Studies an intellectual discipline – Marcus D. Niski
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PLACES OF WORSHIP

By Marcus D. Niski

The inner clothes

we put on each morning

unbuttoned by night

adorned with useless circular landscapes

purified

in cities prepared

near vast expanses

[MN] 22 July 1998

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INTO THAT RADIANT SILENCE

By Marcus D. Niski

The bronze houses without

windows or doors

become obelisks.

The butterfly hunter

with his hat

strode across the foyer

at a moment which anything

seemed possible…

[MN] n.d. November 1997

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In Cocteau’s apartment

By Marcus D. Niski

In Cocteau’s apartment
There exists

An antique clock

A pile of notebooks
A picture of Picasso

A leopard skin drape

A clutch of pencils and ink wells
A pile of books letters and mementos

A faded blackboard

A bust of an unknown composer
Memorials to Colette

A strange engraving.

Above all, there is hope.

[MN] 29 December 1999

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Roaming Around

By Marcus D. Niski

As a child
I would roam
around

Roaming around consisted of freedom

An essence of pleasure

I roamed around the streets
the creeks and gullies
the back blocks

through unfinished houses
through suburbia
through time and space

through mind and body
through disinhibition

through freedom of expression
through permission

to be free

[MN] 8 January 2019

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Gas Station

By Marcus D. Niski

A slice of dying America

Immortalized in poems
by Bishop

paintings by Hopper

And the memories of
Millions of Americans

The allure of gas stations

Grease pits
Oil stands
Bowsers

Grease monkeys
Driveways
Tools and tool draws
Parts and carburetors

The dreams of youth
And the machinery of movement

Gone the Golden Fleece
Of my childhood

ESSO CALTEX MOBIL
BP SHELL LIBERTY

Dead and dying

Like the generations
Basking in the dreams of
nevermore

[MN] 9 January 2019