i actually kind of like the park
it’s just that once my mother lost me and i’m still afraid of dirt paths and trees that look like faces in the dark
once, someone wrote a song about me and called it the Forest
i can’t remember the tune but i haven’t been able to get it out of my head/the idea
that i walk around with leaves in my hair
and woodchips and candy wrappers in my mouth
trees growing in my palms
trees growing from seeds to saplings to monsters under my care
the idea that things live and grow and die so quickly in my mind/i wonder how god does it
how he can sectionalize and rationalize and put all the green things in the city in one square of 843 acres
how he can put humans in a world full of birds and call them gods
give them a portion of the power/delegate the work
let them blame him/let them pray to him/let them fight wars in his name/let them die for him/let them live for him
my uncle believes that god resides in Central Park
says he had a spiritual experience once
when he saw the virgin mary walking her dogs
i’m afraid that he’s right
that getting lost was divine intervention
and i swore in the presence of a holy being