What Is the City?

"What is the city but the people?" asks Sicinius in Shakespeare's "Coriolanus". In these poems, meet the people in Paul Marion's real and imagined city: Manny and Maria, Jimmy Allen, Dr. Doug, Arthur at the diner, Johnny Depp, Katherine O'Donnell Murphy, Bobby Orr, Uncle Dan, Dith Pran, Memere, Harry Callahan, the Chest-Pants Brothers, Mickie Shannon, Pinky, Jack Kerouac, dancing Mary, George and Thida, Alphonse Hudson, Hollywood's Francis Marion, Arshile Gorky, Bob Dylan, and Our Lady of the Bathtub. That's a start. Beyond the poems, Marion explores the meaning and uses of poetry in his essay "Pure and Applied Poetry". He writes, "Writing, publishing, and reading poetry with a community in mind can help strengthen a person's sense of belonging to a place and fortify the social glue...In a healthy democratic society people feel a common bond, believe in a shared fate, and act accordingly. Establishing that spirit in the community close at hand is the first step toward nurturing a greater empathy for the global community, whose survival is our ultimate concern."