The Dead & The Living

People and Trees at Woodlawn Cemetery

I have lived in New York City way more than half my life. While there were entire life episodes in Chicago and Vermont — I always came back.

People travel from all over the world to visit this chaotic hub of human activity and I get to flâneur, sashay or public-transport around it whenever time allows.
Wherever I’ve lived in the city my own neighborhood has always been just a home base from which to explore outward — to the far ends of all five boroughs.

This exploring has especially been the case since my second return 11 years ago, deeply relishing one more opportunity to jump into the pandemonium.
As if for the first time I was suddenly noticing architecture, trees — even the magic of sidewalks. And when I connected up with my art/life partner Tammy soon after, we took on the Awe-seeking around the city together.

“While they stampede for Fun
at the amusement park
In pursuit of Awe at the cemetery
I embark.”
— from “Consumers of Plastic Gold” by Zĕna Kōan

So why hadn’t I gone to Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx before?
How had this jewel escaped me in the past?
(I had been aware of…