Unreal City

In a formidable poem

with snippits in six languages

and footnotes in antique Greek

the banker Tom

called snooty imperial London 

an Unreal City

despite its veddy real

monument to Wren, Piccadilly

Soho, Fleet Street

and the proud pigeons 

strutting about Trafalgar Square

Miami Beach, however, is obviously

the epitome of urban unreality

a stupendous movie set 

clapped together in twenty minutes

at the cost of a zillion dollars,

Miami Beach has neither

manners, history, nor public toilets

all of which indicate

the extent of its unreality

Still, the airy nothing 

of Miami Beach is more fit for idle celebration

than any mausoleum or nymph

on the banks of the Thames

Miami Beach, furthermore

has the grace not to take itself seriously

is content to be

a Coney Island in crystal

with hotels shaped like

rocket ships, starfish

and hot fudge sundaes

And anyone

in baggy jeans or fitted suit 

with plastic or sufficient cash

is welcome 

to enjoy thoroughly

sans connections, honorifics, or plummy accent

all of this imaginary

tongue-in-cheek splendor.