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On recent field trip
to NYC, wending our
way downtown,
through Harlem,
through Times Sq.,
through the Garment
District, outside
our bus windows
a million stories
in the Naked City,
lovers embracing,
murderers killing,
tourists wandering,
me wondering, amid
pushcarts hawking,
horns blaring, manic
cars & cabs scrambling,
pigeons strutting, the
whole cacophonous
mural come to life,
here in the Big Apple,
in Central Park,
even in narrow
bohemian lanes
of Greenwich
Village, Ground
Zero too, so many
student ears glued
to their phones,
speaking to chums
back at L-S, so
many not where
they were, even
here in Whitman's
city, the "many-
footed Manahattan"
that never sleeps.
How much better
Thoreau's reminders
to be where you are,
to stand in the present
moment, to "toe that
line," to stay "in your
senses," and that to
be in the woods, you
must first leave the
dust of the village
behind.
May 31, 2005