#35 The One about Central Park

Except it's not really about Central Park

This poem is not really about Central Park.

I say that because I wrote it in my heart or in my head in one form or another even before I visited there a couple of weeks ago on my inaugural trip to NYC with my wife.

"What are you going to do in New York?" My friends would ask...

"Statue of Liberty? Empire State?"

"I plan to go and stand in Central Park, write a poem, and shed a tear..."

This has been a strange ambition of mine for as long as I can remember. When I finally stood in person in the place I had seen countless times on screen and in my imagination, it did not disappoint.

Yes, I guess it's just a park. But it's the most famous park in the world. Every perfect snapshot of landscape I saw in just a small part of its 843 acres reminded me of something I can't quite put my finger on. Was it from a movie? A photo? A memory? Or my imagination?

This poem is an analogy for something or someone in whom we find rest, hope, and solitude amid the craziness of life.

This poem is about why people like you and me feel things in places like Central Park that are so much bigger than the sum of their parts.

Enjoy!

Oh, Central Park

Oh, the heart of Central Park

I missed you, though we've never really met

I’ve known you, like a nostalgic silhouette

Yet you already knew me

-

Oh, the wonder of Central Park

At last I stand in your cinematic vista

Today your well framed landscape reels me in

Becoming part of my mind-movie-memory 

-

Oh, the vastness of Central Park 

And oh, how small I really am!

I could never see you all, yet you see all of me

Immeasurable, you easily measure me

-

Oh, the song of Central Park

Even when I shout from skyscraper tall

My child like voice is lost in New York

Yet you forever speak

-

Oh, the peace of Central Park

Humanity rushes between stop light and grid line

Running to their subway station, staying in their isolation

Yet you still extend your invitation

-

Oh, the hope of Central Park 

Let me dream again for a Hollywood ending

When the empire takes its toll on my state of mind

Remind me there is always a sequel

Written: April 1980 - October 2023