Mannahatta-linear by nature

 rejoice! the chant

they chant as the sun sets on the grid

worshipping it at new Stonehenge... 

upsprang the aboriginal name.

but now, the tops of the trees are dying

even as the chaste tree blooms.

dying! dying from the inside out!

then a great wind came

making hurricanes seem like a whisper.

against building and skyscraper sway,

a few gathered around Handsome Lake

where seedling maples still grew,

not far from where the two els dance

and the last top blew.

quick! a quick cleansing of the native land 

gasping for oxygen and fresh water

under the law of accelerating returns,

squares collapsed with the weight of the rice.

no longer linear by nature—

rank and file, buff and cream, brown and green.

the light from the golden orb reclines

between the buildings lining 42 street,

again we see what is in a name. what

we created on top of new hills that fall just the same.

city— our city of hurried lives and forgotten waters,

passing parks, strangling spires, and marauding masks,

broken trottoirs, come and go shops, built back Broadway

mark Mannahatta! Mannahatta— return to the bay,

along a wooded island of draining streams.

City of hurried and sparkling waters

fertile once again, ecological sounds replete,

nature and time comes to reclaim New York dreams…