Cities of Howls
by Johanna Gee

The crumbling of cities —
Yelling, shouting for peace
Stumbling, fumbling for pieces
Of meat and medicine for the sick.
This is the night in Manila,
the dark dirty alleys hidden between
plastered walls that can’t be seen.
Bronze! Silver! Gold!
Children are all sold
So a man can taste a bottle of ale,
And buy women that are on sale.
A child saw his father,
Shot in the head by a police officer,
The man slips something in his father’s pocket,
And the child’s tears unseen from his father’s dead socket.
Tenants and sky towers, oh how
trees sang glorifying the city father
as souls tethered and chained with one another.
Do not peek in a dollhouse of husband and wife,
A happy family, everything is nice.
Unless you peek behind their curtains, knowing it’s not right.
And find out they’re made of plastic and bruises hidden from sight.
A man was given a wrong ideality,
Hide it behind the closet or you shall be sent to hell for eternity,
The society robbed him from his identity,
And ended up destroying himself entirely.
Unheard dreams and voices yet
Blessed are those who stole gold
Feasting, eating as another soul is sold.
Blessed are those who lived in high places,
Hidden behind a façade; a masked smile on their faces,
As caskets piled in front of their thrones
One after another; made of bones.
