Air Conditioning

by Bill Schlesinger Hot town, summer in the cityBack of my neck getting dirty and grittyThe Lovin’ Spoonful, 1966 We may be entering a vicious circle—what scientists call a positive…

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Spring: Up on the Ridge

Every April my rational winter brain, is sent packing by spring light. My body seems to wish to sift the world solo. Skin gathers courage, gut relaxes, sinews tighten and…

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I let the yard go

I let the front yard go, thinking moss would take it, imagined a lush, green, spongy mattress, like in the Adirondacks, where my brother and I found wizard beds in…

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The Methane Mystery

Methane is a strong absorbent of infrared (heat) radiation leaving the Earth’s atmosphere, and thus implicated in the ongoing global warming of our planet. After a lull in the 1990s,…

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Mother’s Day 2020

On Life’s veranda We stood there, timid and unsure. What would the next day bring? On the canal, a swan, Her cob and cygnets foraged With an aimless plan. The…

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The Smell of the City

Translational Ecology <[email protected]>10:13 AM (24 minutes ago) The Smell of the City by Bill Schlesinger Even before COVID-19 cleared the air in major world’s cities—New York, Los Angeles, Beijing and…

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AT THE END OF EMPIRES

I. Falling Looking out across the horizon, I imagine the American Empire itself enfolded in that stately snarl of purple clouds sailing toward me about to crash into sheer rockface.…

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Gutting protections for migratory birds

Wood Thrushes have just arrived in our yard in North Carolina, having completed their migration from Central America that began a few weeks ago. Their flutelike singing from the treetops…

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Proof

on the kitchen floora forgotten forget-me-not that fabulous skypalethat sunny centrepart of the treasure cache thatdull glint of summer who cares if it’s a weed of sortsall the king's horses…

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Nonet

Nonet At sunset the red glow of treetops delivers aesthetic wonder as clouds, whimsical in gusts, paint varied animals while white butterflies flitter on ferns. Cardinal says tweet tweet.

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