Thank you, Everyone <3
A Poem about snow, a garden update, and a word of Thanks for your support and patience
Good morning to you. I hope you had a restorative weekend. It was a busy and bustling few days here in NYC as we start to feel the first hints of autumnal weather. We went to a wedding of very dear friends on Saturday and was so nice to see familiar faces, gathering together to celebrate love.
Today is September 10, a date that has been looming in the back of our minds for months now. It’s the date that in June was marked for the eviction of our beloved Elizabeth Street Garden. An update in case you are following the story:
We’re so grateful to all who have donated & written the Mayor so far.
Our attorneys advise that the law requires the City to provide us 14 days notice before they can perform an eviction.
We have not received any such notice. So for now, the Garden is safe from being shuttered. We will inform everyone if we receive the 14 days’ notice in the future.
We’re continuing to pursue legal and non legal options to save the garden. Please stay tuned in.
This is all we can share for now, though we remain hopeful for miracles and are continuing our mission/battle with tireless daily action. We are not giving up and we are leaving no stone unturned.
I wanted to thank you all for your support - in writing supportive comments on my posts, penning letters to our Mayor, donating to the Garden, purchasing our People Have the Power shirts, writing your own posts, talking with others, and checking in.
I also wanted to thank you for your unbelievable kindness and patience as this issue has consumed my efforts and mind, and where all of my energy has been directed these days. I know there are things which have been put on hold/postponed and I do think about everything so much and look forward to when we can resume these things again. Among them is needing to send your *THANK YOU* gifts, and I have some wonderful new plans for things to share with you all. I know it is taking a long time, but it will be worth it, I think. I hope! :)
I’ve said it many times, but just wanted to reiterate how thankful I am for this community. Reading your comments on my posts and on the Chat threads bring me such a bounty of inspiration and comfort. I keep thinking of when I first launched my Substack back in December, and how nice it will be soon to have this platform and community in the fall and winter once again. Something about Substack seems tailor made for the colder months, when we can get cozy with a cup of tea or coffee, and take real time to be with each other's words.
I wanted to share a poem with you. I found this one I wrote about a dream I had in 2021. I don’t remember what month it was, or too many details of the dream, but I so clearly remember the light, the feeling, the colors. It was this very simple and magical dream of a pink and gold snowy landscape on the sidewalk of Houston Street in NYC. I wish I could paint it for you or show you in a film. I can conjure the dream so clearly in my mind right now. This feeling of magic, purity, stillness. That feeling when it first snows and everything is perfect - when it’s cold and warm at once - the best kind of each. Picture that feeling and add in this heavenly light of warm pink and soft gold. I remember I woke up that morning and wrote this poem to try and contain the feeling and image so I could revisit it whenever I wanted to.
It isn’t really apropos of anything, I just wanted to share it because reading it made me feel a sense of wonder today, and I thought maybe you could share in that, too. The poem was originally twice as long, and in an effort/exercise did some heavy editing for this Substack post. Is an experiment, and for my next experiment I want to try and re-edit the whole thing again as a prose poem, or perhaps it was meant to be two separate poems. It takes some focused work and experimentation, so here is a new iteration, from 2021 to 2024.
Please in the comments share any thoughts, anything the poem reminded you of, a poem you wrote, or a dream you had in waking life or sleeping. <3
Sky Blue Pink
Walking aloof in Slumberland
I swung my belongings round my head
and launched them into the sky
Free as the birds collecting formation
Breezing as ether returning as air
The land was glowing pink and gold
The city was arctic landscape
A vast and round expanse
A telephone booth for Uncle Wiggly
And his loyal boon companions
I stood beneath
Incandescent riddles
Walking in the Air
Hoping to capture them stillÂ
I reached for my gone satchelÂ
Searched the snowy floor
Icicle scenes by degrees
Stalactites reaching for the pavement
Stalagmites reaching for the paintbrushÂ
I heard a shimmery humÂ
the Music of the Drift
And gazing in awe at the firmament
Awaiting a sky of midnight starsÂ
I saw the lyrics of all the worldÂ
And wondered whyÂ
dreams are not like memories
we bury in our own resting place
The foundation collapsedÂ
the bottom fell out
Cylinders flying like fire
The first melting ice capsÂ
Childhood poetry
The swinging circles
The pigeons in the air
pink glowing orbs of light under snow
And I wanted to capture it all
To befriend and disarm the snake charmer
To delay the arrival of the bad news bearer
To swing my belongings over my shoulder
The culprit of my waking hour
Really good news on not getting notice. And lovely poem. I read it backwards as well and it actually works really well. Try doing that. Tell me what you think. Cheers!
First of all, the 14 day notice is great news in that it has not yet been served. The longer it gets tied up in the system the more time there is to save the garden. I changed my profile pic here to feature the People Have The Power garden t shirt with, of course my little touch of animated greenery on my shoulder (my bird Rico)
The poem, okay this is going to sound a tad frivolous but....
"I swung my belongings round my head
and launched them into the sky
Free as the birds collecting formation"
For some inexplicable reason the opening credits for the Mary Tyler Moore Show came into my mind where she launches her hat skywards.
Taking it back to ground level, perhaps I felt in those words the kind of throwing caution to the wind action of launching your belongings skywards, letting them fly free and land where they may.
In our lives we do try to be responsible adults most of the time but it is also kind of exhilarating to cast everything skywards and gaze with childlike wonder at where everything falls, Into place or out of place, it is still perfect:)