A SLAM POEM ABOUT UPTOWN CHICAGO
Prince sang about you,
We danced to your beat,
You were unique
Like that thrift shop on Sheridan Road,
You were filled with glory,
You were gang territory,
You're a chapter of my story,
You are where we laughed and cried,
Where those we loved lived and died,
Music bumping, hearts pumping,
You were filled with addicts, educators and haters,
Playgrounds with crack vials and fake smiles,
An absolute melting pot of cultures, hustlers and vultures,
Bus cards to ride the train,
No umbrella in the pouring rain,
Conversations with my best friend,
A place of failed romances and second chances,
Storefront spirituality and psychic mentality,
Broken dreams inevitable, regrettable,
Thank goodness for the neighborhood music stores,
I bought 45's galore after I did my chores,
Hard to come of age in a cage,
Mama was strict She wasn't having it,
I would not become a statistic,
Uptown was lamp lights, street fights and starry nights,
Walks in Margate park long after dark,
Picnics by the lake, grilled carne asada on a soaked paper plate,
Cute Puerto Rican boys making noise,
You hold pieces of my soul, no mystery, pivotal to my history,
Beautiful murals, lovely views, childhood friends of all hues,
Homeless people singing the blues,
Oblivious young girls being used,
Mama blasting Al Green, I was barely a teen,
Broken windows, boarded buildings,
Single moms and their children,
High rise to the skies, family ties,
Pizza by the slice, hood paradise Innocence faded into 1978 sunset,
I was a dreamer, even then, you inspired me to pick up a pen,
So long to Bennie and the Jets, nothing left to regret,
No more music blasting from the Aragon
Time moved on like a forgotten song,
Like a Prince record spinning around, I danced until I survived you
Uptown
From: Uptown Déjà Vu
Summary
“UPTOWN” by Jimmie Ware is a poem centered on place and geography, memory, love and relationships. Its imagery is anchored in Chicago, Uptown Chicago. The poem develops its subject through recurring images and shifts in emotional pressure rather than reducing the experience to a single statement.
Analysis
Voice
A personal, first-person speaker combines recollection with direct emotional address.
Style and form
The poem is musically inflected, line-driven, typographically emphatic, first-person. The poem moves by accumulation: images, references, and tonal turns build on one another, so meaning emerges from their relationships as much as from narrative sequence.
Themes and imagery
Its strongest thematic currents include place and geography, memory, love and relationships, family. Concrete images give those abstractions physical weight, while changes in diction and pace keep the poem from settling into a single emotional register.
Reading the poem
A productive way to read “UPTOWN” is to watch how its images change function as the poem progresses. Details that initially establish scene or memory become emotional evidence. The result is a poem whose argument is carried through association, rhythm, and image as much as through explicit statement.
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Source & rights
Source: Uptown Déjà Vu
Rights: Copyright controlled by the rights holder. Published here with permission.