 |
| JWB, 2012 |
A wind has
blown the rain away
and blown
the sky away and
all the
leaves away,
and the
trees stand. I think,
I too, have
known autumn too long.
I’m not sure
I agree with e. e. cummings. I’m not
sure it’s possible to know autumn too long.
On a physical and metaphorical level it’s a great time of year.
But it
doesn’t last long.
Two things
happened as I biked to and from the Chicago Architecture Foundation this week
to underscore that fact. On Monday city
crews began putting up the snow fences along Lake Shore Drive between Jackson
Boulevard and Randolph Street.
Today the
bulldozer was busy at work north of the Oak Street beach, pushing up sand berms
between the lake and the Outer Drive, a buffer against those nasty lake-effect
snow squalls that are to come.
They can
make all the winter preparations they want . . . nothing can deny the beauty of
this city autumn. That’s why I like the above photo so much. It has the contrast of
seasons in it that is like so many of the contrasts we see in this great
paradox of a city.
The lions at
the Art Institute stand guard as the locust trees along Michigan Avenue change
colors. Under the color-laden limbs,
the chess-checker guys, summertime fixtures, set up shop once again, inviting
folks to match wits as breezy seventies tunes play from the speakers behind the
table holding the game boards.
Soon they’ll
be gone, too.
For now,
though, it all comes together . . . great weather, great scenery, a great city,
all of it moving along toward a future we can’t avoid.
Posts
3 comments:
The above writing was brilliant.
Excellent Concept and Writing... Brilliant Narrative and Thoughtful Wording.!!!! Keep Up the Good Work.!!! And Thanks for Including My Chess Table.!.(touch & go chess party)..."Mother Nature Won Again".!!!
Above Comments by Cecil Locke,.Inventor & Creator of this Outdoor Chess Table, since 1998
Post a Comment