
Congratulations to the multi-talented Lee! And speaking of Poetry, join us this Friday, April 30th from 4-6PM at the UFT building at 50 Broadway for our always popular Open Mike Poetry Event!
Dear NYU
If you plan to cut down
the cherry trees on BleeckerI
I'm going tochain myself to them.
the sweet smell of bark,
the ants crawling, the birds lilting.
this is where I want to be
if the trees go; I want to go with them.
everyone needs to hold on to something larger than herself—
but not a forty story tower.
I have watched you grow,
seedling sprouts to mature trees
returning to bloom every spring.
you give a beauty of surprise to the city,
you are the surviving heiress of a less greedy time.
you are all that is left of sunny mornings and green giving,
I surrender to your strong back and perfumed air.
I am sick of broken promises left at my door.
NYU, you got it right the first time,
planting luscious greens and dancing trees.
now you want to mow them down and give us
cool slabs that block the sun,
dark caverns of streets, pyramids of hubris.
nobody can live in a tower
except a fairy tale princess
if you’re going to chop down the cherry trees
then I’m hanging on because
there will be no Village left to call Greenwich,
no Poe House, no Provincetown,
Nothing I recognize to call home,
so braid my arms around the trees.
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