*

Poet Barbara Reynolds writes: “The evolution of the vacant lot between Central Street and Laurel Street in the Union Square area has always caught my attention when I walk by: not only the changes in vegetation that occur each season, but also, the changes in usage. For a while the lot was allowed to grow wild, then, became a storage spot for trucks and building materials. Now, it is to become the location of a six-story luxury hotel. As recently as last summer, I saw rabbits roaming.”

A Little Piece of Wild

In my city a little piece of wild is addressed
on the Avenue, enclosed in metal fencing
designed to keep out not in.

Assigned for offices and living rooms
yet left untouched for years, now
reverting to Nature and her wants.

She wants an ocean of dandelion bobs
beset by turbans of nightshade while comets
of chicory tease thistles as tall as giraffes.

She wants Asiatic day flowers mingling
with mouse-eared hawkweeds amid evening
primrose soothing the wild bleeding hearts.

She wants toad flax and birdsfoot trefoil
cavorting with wild phlox as curly dock
hobnobs with the common tansy.

She wants a kingdom of Queen Anne’s lace
and pearly everlasting reigning over a field
of lance-leaved golden rod and sweet white clover.

— Barbara Reynolds

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