{"seoTitle":"City Stew — A Poem on Modern Urban Overwhelm by Pemba Umoja","seoDescription":"A walking observation of a city that surrounds without offering refuge — fumes for flowers, screens in every hand, and the question of where everyone is actually going. By Pemba Umoja.","keywords":"city poem, urban poem, modern alienation poetry, poem about screens and crowds, contemplative city poem, Pemba Umoja poems","s1l1":"There is literally","s1l2":"no place to go","s2l1":"and yet I'm surrounded","s2l2":"by onlookers","s3l1":"who zig and zag towards me","s3l2":"staring","s3l3":"turning","s3l4":"passing","s4l1":"Cars race","s5l1":"fumes replace flowers","s6l1":"loud voices demand this","s6l2":"that","s6l3":"who knows","s7l1":"The hum of cars and machines","s7l2":"sirens","s7l3":"the chill of cold May air","s7l4":"the vibration of locomotives","s7l5":"against solid brick walls","s8l1":"More busy bodies","s8l2":"coming","s8l3":"going","s8l4":"zigzagging","s9l1":"There is no place to go","s10l1":"Screens in left hands","s10l2":"screens in right","s11l1":"screens in front","s11l2":"behind","s11l3":"above","s11l4":"and below","s12l1":"It is hard to breathe fumes","s13l1":"Even the dogs","s13l2":"look downtrodden","s14l1":"This is not a love poem","s15l1":"yet the world races","s16l1":"Where are they going?","s17l1":"Besides around","s17l2":"and around","s17l3":"and around."}