# Urbanize a nature poet **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 27, 2009, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urbanize-a-nature-poet/504465 "2009-07-27T19:03:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urbanize-a-nature-poet/504465/1 "2009-07-27T19:03:25Z")
You know how poetry used to be all about flowers and trees and mountains and all that? Well imagine if they’d lived in modern cities. Maybe Wordsworth would have waxed poetic about a host of golden cabs. Or Kilmer would have written, “I think that I shall never see/ A poem lovely as a marquee.” Give it your best shot, and put the words into their mouths. My entry is a sort of cheat- I actually wrote it two years ago, after being stuck in Manhattan traffic. **The Highway Not Taken** by Bizarro Robert Frost \*Two roads diverged in a city ‘hood And sorry cars could not fly, outside Of science-fiction novels, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where bright taxis would give a ride Then took the other, no less smogged And having perhaps a better claim Because that avenue less cars hogged Though N.Y. traffic being so clogged It might be backed-up just the same And both in that morning equally lay On asphalt no tire had yet streaked black Oh, I kept the first for another day Yet knowing how cars crash on the way I doubted if I should U-turn back I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence Two roads diverged in New York, and I- I took the one less trafficked by And it made two hour’s difference. \* ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urbanize-a-nature-poet/504465/2 "2009-07-28T19:07:07Z")
Anyone? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urbanize-a-nature-poet/504465/3 "2009-07-28T20:00:54Z")
You realize, of course, that urban poets also tend to write about trees and mountains and shit. It’s been that way since antiquity. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urbanize-a-nature-poet/504465/4 "2009-07-28T20:08:27Z")
oh my love’s like those red red hos. that got newly sprung in June. ---
**Author:** ![De\_La\_Rue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@De\_La\_Rue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/De_La_Rue)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urbanize-a-nature-poet/504465/5 "2009-07-28T20:10:09Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > …Or Kilmer would have written, “I think that I shall never see/ A poem lovely as a marquee.” \* It’s been done: I think that I shall never see A billboard lovely as a tree. Indeed, unless the billboards fall, I’ll never see a tree at all. –Ogden Nash ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2009, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urbanize-a-nature-poet/504465/6 "2009-07-29T00:09:03Z")
> [@Johnny\_Angel](#): > > You realize, of course, that urban poets also tend to write about trees and mountains and shit. It’s been that way since antiquity. Yes, but the premise of the thread is changing rural verse into urban peotry. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2009, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urbanize-a-nature-poet/504465/7 "2009-07-29T00:10:09Z")
> [@De\_La\_Rue](#): > > It’s been done: > > I think that I shall never see > A billboard lovely as a tree. > Indeed, unless the billboards fall, > I’ll never see a tree at all. > > –Ogden Nash I was actually just trying to remember who wrote that. Thanks! But, yeah, that’s the sort of thing I was looking for. ---
**Author:** ![De\_La\_Rue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@De\_La\_Rue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/De_La_Rue)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2009, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urbanize-a-nature-poet/504465/8 "2009-07-29T01:43:06Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > I was actually just trying to remember who wrote that. Thanks! But, yeah, that’s the sort of thing I was looking for. You want to identify doggerel, you turn to me. I’ve inadvertently memorized a lot of it. Meanwhile, on topic: Sumer is icumen in, Lhude sing carre hornes!