Poem-A-Day: Move to the City by Nathaniel Bellows

Move to the City   by Nathaniel Bellows     live life as a stranger. Disappear into frequent invention, depending on the district, wherever you get off the train. For a night, take the name of the person who'd say yes to that offer, that overture, the invitation to kiss that mouth, sit on that lap. Assume the name of whoever has the skill to slip from the warm side of the sleeping stranger, dress in the hallway of the hotel. This is a city where people know the price of everything, and know that some of the best things still come free. In one guise: shed all that shame. In another: flaunt the plumage you've never allowed yourself to leverage. Danger will always be outweighed by education, even if conjured by a lie. Remember: go home while it's still dark. Don't invite anyone back. And, once inside, take off the mask. These inventions are the art of a kind of citizenship, and they do not last. In the end, it might mean nothing beyond further fortifying the walls, crystallizing the questioned, tested autonomy, ratifying the fact that nothing will be as secret, as satisfying, as the work you do alone in your room.       Copyright © 2013 by Nathaniel Bellows. Used with permission of the author.   About This Poem "What can one learn from anonymity? Freedom, flexibility, invention, the chance to know who you are by acting out who you may not be. There is a lot to be gained from participating in the world around you, from engagement. This poem is an homage to the art of autonomy."    --Nathaniel Bellows Most Recent Book by Bellows Why Speak? (W. W. Norton, 2008)   August 5, 2013 Nathaniel Bellows is the author of Why Speak? (W. W. Norton, 2008). He is also the author  of the novel, On This Day (HarperCollins, 2003). Bellows lives in New York City. Related Poems With My Back to City Hall, On Yom Kippur by Jordan Davis Back in Seaside by Shanna Compton He Dreams of Falling by Ruth Ellen Kocher Poem-A-Day Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-A-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on  weekdays and classic poems  on weekends. Browse the  Poem-A-Day Archive.         Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.

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