Loving THE CITY in the Time of COVID-19

(Or How One Returning New Yorker Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Park)

Cobbled together while under house arrest for endless weeks during the COVID-19 pandemic

Native New Yorker returns to THE CITY

Eager to reacquaint
Chuckles about his enviable address near Lincoln Center
Two blocks from the Park; from the mighty Hudson
Geared up to see it pulse in 2020
Quickly rambles . . .
Suffers the 9/11 memorial for the first time
Strolls the High Line like a real New Yorker
Catches Beethoven’s 6th and 7th at Carnegie Hall
Walks home. All is right, THE CITY invites!

Then pandemic strikes! Flashing no mercy

What is COVID-19? Were we forewarned?
Thousands infected, hundreds dead, and THE CITY dawdles.
Told, too late, by state and city honchos
(From D.C., a different tale, told by an idiot, signifying nothing)
Left only to buy essentials—booze at the top—to exercise briefly
And wear a mask!
Ordered, but does he not have rights?
No.
He wears a mask, promotes the common good.
A quaint concept, . . . not red, blue, purple
But universal, classical, biblical
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Conditions necessary for all

Protect THE CITY from despotism and individualism
Oppose Donald Trump and his anti-social basket of deplorables bearing Glocks and grievances
Troubled not “that thousands . . . may . . . die for the Dow.” (Paul Krugman, “Covid-19 Reality
Has a Liberal Bias,” May 14, 2020, www.nytimes.com>opinion>trump-covid-experts)

It is too much. He retreats from THE CITY to the Park

His Eden in pandemic: walk, pray, daydream
Oh, Olmstead, Vaux, and Conservancy!
Shady wood and sun-drenched lawn!
Glorious flora and surprising fauna!
Grand plazas, sculptures, moments!
Meandering ways, drives, and bridle paths!
For the people!
Speaking other languages, none like him
Well-heeled, ordinary folks, artists, the homeless
Masked and socially distanced
Biking, skating, jogging, sitting, lying
Seniors walking slowly, hand in hand
Newer ones, with strollers and babblers in tow
Caregivers failing tweeners with home-spun lessons
Whole families at graduations far from padlocked schools
Moms playing ball with sons; dads combing a daughter’s hair
For this is THE CITY!
Remember too, New York dogs walk their distracted owners.

In daily graced and joyful moments—New Yorkers (and their dogs) alive, well
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Hanging here, with 8.5 million neighbors

Together in the Park, contented in THE CITY
A momentary, light-filled retreat from unrelenting gloom.
¡Gracias a Dios!