Urban Nature

Many of the blog posts (see here, here, here and here) that I read this past week talk about a conflict between nature and urban construction, a conflict that does, in many ways, exist. With this post, I'd like to provide not a counterargument, but more of a counterpoint.  Last week, I wrote this poem while sitting in Good Earth Cafe, having noted our city's grey architecture on my walk there. Sometimes, I think we need the urban and natural side by side in order to really see.

Apart(ment)

Ascending walls, cement and glass. A single

knock

sounds up its surface in waves.

Can I position a place

by its vibrant frequency?

If vibrancy is a quality of motion or colour,

this frozen grey

falls short.

Stands tall,

with a frequency, I suppose,

if frequency is that repetitive

facade that follows the sidewalks –

only pigeons can climb high enough

to peek in.