Unknown Artist James Wiens Birch Silhouette I

Unknown Artist James Wiens Birch Silhouette IPablo Picasso the dogUnknown Artist Still Life with Musical InstrumentsUnknown Artist Pieter Claesz Still LifeUnknown Artist Philadelphia Public Ledger
Poets long ago gave up trying to describe the city. Now the more cunning ones try to excuse it. They say, well, maybe it is smelly, maybe it is overcrowded, maybe it is a bit like Hell would be if they shut the fires off and stabled a herd of incontinent cows there for a year, but you must admit that it is full of sheer, vibrant, dynamic life. And flood, fire, hordes, revolutions and dragons. Sometimes by accident, admittedly, but it has survived them. The cheerful and irrecoverably venal spirit of the city has been proof against anything . . .
Until now.

Boom.
The explosion removed the windows, the door and most of the chimney. this is true, even though it is poets that are saying it. But people who aren’t poets say, so what? Mattresses tend to be full of life too, and no-one writes odes to them. Citizens hate living there and, if they have to move away on business or adventure or, more usually, until some statute of limitations runs out, can’t wait to get back so they can enjoy hating living there some more. They put stickers on the backs of their carts saying ‘Ankh-Morpork - Loathe It or Leave It’. They call it The Big Wahooni, after the fruit.[1so often a ruler of the city builds a wall around Ankh-Morpork, ostensibly to keep enemies out. But Ankh-Morpork doesn’t fear enemies. In fact it welcomes enemies, provided they are enemies with money to spend.It has survived