<$BlogRSDUrl$>

Monday, October 31, 2011

Tough guy poem of the evening: "Chicago" 


I am in Chicago for around 48 hours, so it is time for one of the great American poems, Carl Sandburg's "Chicago."

HOG Butcher for the World,
Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat,
Player with Railroads and the Nation's Freight Handler;
Stormy, husky, brawling,
City of the Big Shoulders:

They tell me you are wicked and I believe them, for I
have seen your painted women under the gas lamps
luring the farm boys.
And they tell me you are crooked and I answer: Yes, it
is true I have seen the gunman kill and go free to
kill again.
And they tell me you are brutal and my reply is: On the
faces of women and children I have seen the marks
of wanton hunger.
And having answered so I turn once more to those who
sneer at this my city, and I give them back the sneer
and say to them:
Come and show me another city with lifted head singing
so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning.
Flinging magnetic curses amid the toil of piling job on
job, here is a tall bold slugger set vivid against the
little soft cities;

Fierce as a dog with tongue lapping for action, cunning
as a savage pitted against the wilderness,
Bareheaded,
Shoveling,
Wrecking,
Planning,
Building, breaking, rebuilding,
Under the smoke, dust all over his mouth, laughing with
white teeth,
Under the terrible burden of destiny laughing as a young
man laughs,
Laughing even as an ignorant fighter laughs who has
never lost a battle,
Bragging and laughing that under his wrist is the pulse.
and under his ribs the heart of the people,
Laughing!
Laughing the stormy, husky, brawling laughter of
Youth, half-naked, sweating, proud to be Hog
Butcher, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with
Railroads and Freight Handler to the Nation.

They don't make cities like that any more, at least not in this country. Our loss.

3 Comments:

By Blogger Viking Kaj, at Tue Nov 01, 10:54:00 AM:

Chicago ain't what it used to be. Sandberg wrote long before 20 years of sell-out politicians in DC moved all the manufacturing jobs to Mexico and China. Now, if you are looking for a fight, you need to check out the stands at Soldier Field when the Packers come to town.

Btw. a lot of the hog butchering has moved to rural Iowa which is either good or bad for the Hawkeye state depending upon your perspective including whether you live next to to it.  

By Anonymous Anonymous, at Wed Nov 02, 08:21:00 AM:

There is always Houston  

By Blogger Assistant Village Idiot, at Thu Nov 03, 02:48:00 PM:

Or Aspen  

Post a Comment


This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?