Errata 2020: Poems of Philadelphia

By Ernest Yates

This is Ernest Yates’s thirteenth volume of poems, and the tenth volume in an ongoing series based on his wanderings through streets of Philadelphia.

“Errata, you may be the eleventh,/or the thousandth, or the millionth//muse sprung up in America”?so Yates addresses his muse in the poem called “Fever.” And indeed it is Errata who leads the poet through the hundred neighborhoods of the city, from Somerton in the far northeast to Eastwick near the airport, from Chestnut Hill in the northwest to the navy yard in the south. Yates’s interactions with these diverse neighborhoods highlight not only the life of the city itself, but also the receptive spirit of the poems. In these meditations, the poet’s Philadelphia becomes universally relevant?an authentic reflection of any city, of every human habitat or condition.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Mar 11, 2020
• ISBN: 9781796090932

Ernest Yates

Born in Ancon, Panama, and raised in New Orleans, Ernest Yates obtained a doctorate in English from the University of Pennsylvania. He has lived and worked in the Philadelphia area for fifty years. Mr. Yates has published poetry in dozens of literary magazines and journals, and has won the Grand Prize of the Pennsylvania Poetry Society, among other poetry awards. For further information, please consult Mr. Yates’s website? ernestyates.com

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Copyright © 2020 by Ernest Yates.

Library of Congress Control Number:    2020904085

ISBN:                  Hardcover                        978-1-7960-9073-4

                            Softcover                           978-1-7960-9074-1

                            eBook                                978-1-7960-9093-2

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 03/09/2020

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CONTENTS

Surveying

Autumn Evening, Independence Square

Poetry

One Day Whilst Sauntering

The Singing Fountain

On Washington Avenue

Symphony

Out To Lunch

Epiphany In Point Breeze

Lost Cause

Suburban Dreams

Skaters And Statues At Dilworth Park

Dreaming Of Rufus

Lost In Translation

Unleashed

Homage To South Street

Vanishing Point

Market Street Is Our Most Common Fairy Tale

Donkey Thoughts

At WOODMERE ART MUSEUM

Vision Trouble

Situation Normal

Passage

Fantasia, Early Morning

So Normal

How It Feels

NO OUTLET

Subjunctive Mood

No Use

Hopscotch

Aliens

MUMMERS MUSEUM

Crape Paper Moon

The Importance Of Love

Synonyms

Celebrate

The River

History’s Jokes

Fantasia Of Meaning On 1³Th Street

Avenue Of The Arts

Meditation With Place

Fever

Empowerment Zone

Crossing The Tacony-Palmyra Bridge

Awakening

Rainy Day

Return To AIRCON FILTER SALES AND SERVICE

Allurement

Fantasia Of Harrowgate Park

City Hall

Fantasia In Dust

Psalm

Outside Mt. Carmel Cemetery, Frankford

In Canyons

American Poetry

On The Edge Of Space

Coffee And Bagel In ANTS PANTS CAFÉ

In Fairhill

Sublimity

Wonder

Foraging

Fantasia Of Wilderness

Spectacle

Foreign Language

Transit

To Jacqueline

ERRATA 2020

SURVEYING

From Fairmount, overlooking the Schuylkill,

i regard with suspicion

the serenity of lawns

descending to smooth blue water—

stately sculptures of the museum’s garden,

the elegant waterworks.

My whole life i’ve loved cafés, crowded streets,

storefront displays, sweet wine.

My whole life i’ve swallowed this city’s dust,

guzzled poison from waterspouts,

inhaled acrid pollutants.

I’ve rushed down gusty avenues,

abandoned myself to weather,

rejoiced in the commonest pleasures,

survived the vagaries of human caprice.

And now, from Fairmount, i’ve come to regard

nothing so deceptive as stateliness,

nothing so certain as human frenzy,

nothing in this city so true

as our words, swirling.

AUTUMN EVENING, INDEPENDENCE SQUARE

Mist

settles with dusk

over the square, a few passersby

like wraiths

gliding under autumn branches

so muted in gray light

down walkways

receding from the black Commodore

past iron benches

ineffectual goose-neck lamps

themselves dissolving like day

into darkness

like timeless thought

doubt feeling care

bodiless into night.

POETRY

First came desire

then later this city

but no matter where i wander

i’m still searching for home.

This morning’s October