Nature in the City (with a nod to Molly Bloom)

Virginia wrote an entry yesterday about the lives of nature lovers in the city.  I was all set to produce an erudite defense of exactly that, complete with the environmental arguments in favor of aggregate lifestyles as opposed to five-acre lot minimums, but this appeared instead:  

you simply have to look more intently in the city it is all here different but here the monarch chrysalises on my grandmother's porch were sea green and their golden sparkles danced in the sunlight on the lake islands the butterflies race free across the becahes here they are tossed and turned in the cavernous passages created by city skyscrapers but they are headed for mexico regardless as the waves break across the seawalls the cans and scaup undulate with the waves while a cormorant stretches her wings in the sun on an inland city pond a redtail wheels above the cemetery mistaken identity by many he is too young for a red tail the warblers are passing back through unseen except by the most knowledgeable in the field and they don't advertise themselves neither the warblers this time of year nor those who recognize them loons not here yet the lakes in Canada remain free of ice the deer stop traffic the catbirds in my yard think they own the place especially at 6:00 in the morning geese fly low in formation over a girls' hard-fought soccer game which team are they honking for?  buckeyes litter the sidewalk gleaming as though they'd been polished overnight the puddle ducks are starting to molt and wondering if they are stuck in the city for life will they have to join us for coffee on saturday mornings all those raucous women who dream of beachside cottages but cannot leave one another a skunk hightailed it across the gas station parking lot last night a young racoon appeared in the ivy on the guest room windowsill there is warmth in the sunshine on the bridge on the bench next to the cemetery lake on the curb with friends will there be screech owls this year they haven't been back in a long time when we visit with our friends a big group of us sunday summer nights for years and years their skunk joins us sunshine and goldenrod at the 9/11 ceremony in the cemetery bumper stickers kerry/edwards member of the presidential prayer team city firefighter afl/cio us navy national guard uniform nurse's scrubs red-headed woodpeckers we need to be where there is art and debate over health care benefits for gay city employees and museums and music and all the nature even if most people don't know about it it is here

Walked: 4 miles.