Ring Suburb

The best part of a city is the sprawl;
Not Jacksonville's suburban endlessness
Which really isn't cityscape at all-
A cul-de-sac of strip malls, more or less-
But also not the downtown business core:
The city of the city, neighborhoods
Where people live in closely, door by door,
The Wallingfords, the Queens, the St. John's Woods.
Downtown is but the jewel set in the ring
Whose carats, though the measure of its cost,
Ultimately is a useless thing
If all the metal holding it is lost.
Without downtown, a city's but a band;
Without the sprawl, a gem dropped from the hand.