By ZACK ROGOW, senior editor at CIIS. His writings include a recent book of poems, "My Mother and the Ceiling Dancers," from Kattywompus Press. He also maintains a blog called Advice for Writers.
CIIS is currently surrounded by construction sites, part of the boom in San Francisco now called “Silicon Alley.” High-tech firms like Twitter, Yammer, and Dolby, and service businesses such as Whole Foods, are moving into the South of Market neighborhood near CIIS as fast as the cranes and crews can build their sites. As a result, even our peaceful retreat atop our building is now touched by the sounds of new structures going up. I wrote this poem in response to that, using the traditional Japanese tanka form. This condensed, five-line form lends itself to bringing together opposites.
Urban Tanka #8
in
a Zen rooftop garden
plants
trill their green fingers
as
high-rises sprout nearby
Why
is everything always
under
construction
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