ED Futures Newsletter

Dear ED Futures Reader:

Over the past week I have been exploring American cities through both image and verse. It has been a rewarding journey yielding some very special feelings and thoughts about our wonderful cities. The experience has given me a new appreciation of cities and our experience of them as personally meaningful places.

Downtown skylines are among the most photographed aspects of urban life, and for good reason since they capture in many ways the "heart of the city." While there is certainly more to any city than its downtown area, the downtown has become a powerful "archetype" in people's imagination of urban places. It is one of the first things people associate with a city. I have posted a series of illustrative photos of various cities, including Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Birmingham, Tucson and Minneapolis. All are, to the best of my knowledge, in the public domain.

Many poems have been written about cities. I have included several that I was able to find, including two of my own about Tucson. Click on the author links to learn more about his or her poetic work. Poetry is very much a "feeling language," and in this sense poems about cities capture their feel. Not always is the poem entirely about the city, rather the poem reflects some specific experiences the poet has had with the city, its natural environment, events and its people. The collection you will find posted here is quite varied. Poets are notorious for using "graphic language." After all, poetry is the art of the painted word.

I hope you enjoy this series. I plan to continue for a while. Please feel free to send me any images or poems about your favorite city. With your permission, I may want to include them in the series.

Best wishes for the summer!

Don Iannone
ED Futures Publisher
Email: dtia@don-iannone.com
Phone: 440.449.0753