{"id":787,"date":"2014-09-22T00:00:46","date_gmt":"2014-09-22T00:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/mission-and-identity\/?p=787"},"modified":"2019-09-18T16:50:12","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T20:50:12","slug":"sept-22-15000-trees-not-in-a-clean-rectangle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2014\/09\/22\/sept-22-15000-trees-not-in-a-clean-rectangle\/","title":{"rendered":"Sept 22 – 15,000 trees, not in a clean rectangle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Monday, \u00a0September 22 \u00a0– \u00a0 a little church<\/p>\n

Yesterday, \u00a0I drove a friend from out of town around the city in early autumn\u2019s flashing sun. \u00a0I call Detroit drive-arounds for friends from elsewhere \u201cRuins Porn and Detroit Rebirth\u201d \u00a0 (i.e., standard stereotypes of collapsed houses, broken factories and store fronts; \u00a0some enduring city treasures, like the DIA and Orchestra Hall with its surround of new investments — the new high school, two apartment buildings, an office complex). \u00a0 \u00a0I told my friend that when I moved here in 1980, Orchestra Hall was boarded up and slated for a wrecking ball, \u00a0people who love the acoustic wonder of the space organized and brought it back. \u00a0There\u2019s rebirth all around it now, a new music-focused school, two apartment houses, offices, even a Starbucks.<\/p>\n

We had to avoid downtown because of Lions game traffic so we headed east on Mack past the Medical Center and Whole Foods \u00a0and noodled around Eastern Market. \u00a0Spaces where people come to buy scallions, squash, and Avalon Bread were jammed with tailgaters. \u00a0 \u00a0We drove east through Indian Village to introduce my friend to the 15,000 Hentz tree farm. \u00a0This approach to available space was pioneered by UDM\u2019s Detroit Collaborative Design Center. \u00a0They teach \u00a0that a city’s available space should not be imagined as empty rectangles looking for new constructions. \u00a0Instead, new energy weaves itself around still standing old energy. \u00a0The Hentz farm is like that: \u00a0saplings, planted by a host of volunteers one weekend in early summer, but not all in one rectilinear patch, \u00a0lots and lots of small patches; \u00a0the new growth is woven around the old. \u00a0“That\u2019s Detroit rebirth,” I told my friend.<\/p>\n

The drive-around was in the back of my mind when\u00a0e e cummings \u201ci am a little church\u201d woke my imagination this morning. \u00a0 I read the poem and remembered why I love it. \u00a0It\u2019s Today\u2019s Post. \u00a0But I\u2019ll hazard disagreement with the poet on one count. \u00a0 Yesterday during the drive-around we saw so many churches all over Detroit; some large, some small, some centers of beauty and community, some boarded up; \u00a0churches everywhere. \u00a0Memories of lost congregations and lost revenue alongside life blood for a city\u2019s rebirth. \u00a0 \u00a0 This morning I read \u201clittle church\u201d as if it were one of those \u00a0I drove by yesterday, all around the city<\/p>\n

\u201caround me surges a miracle of unceasing
\nbirth and glory and death and resurrection;
\n. . . flaming symbols
\nof hope.”<\/p>\n

Have a great day.<\/p>\n

john sj<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s Post<\/strong><\/p>\n

“i am a little church”<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201ci am a little church (no great cathedral)
\nfar from the splendor and squalor of hurrying cities
\n–i do not worry if briefer days grow briefest,
\ni am not sorry when sun and rain make april<\/p>\n

my life is the life of the reaper and the sower;
\nmy prayers are prayers of earth’s own clumsily striving
\n(finding and losing and laughing and crying)children
\nwhose any sadness or joy is my grief or my gladness<\/p>\n

around me surges a miracle of unceasing
\nbirth and glory and death and resurrection:
\nover my sleeping self float flaming symbols
\nof hope,and i wake to a perfect patience of mountains<\/p>\n

i am a little church (far from the frantic
\nworld with its rapture and anguish) at peace with nature
\n–i do not worry if longer nights grow longest;
\ni am not sorry when silence becomes singing<\/p>\n

winter by spring, i lift my diminutive spire to
\nmerciful Him Whose only now is forever:
\nstanding erect in the deathless truth of His presence
\n(welcoming humbly His light and proudly His darkness)\u201d<\/p>\n

\"E.E.Cummings\"<\/a><\/p>\n

E. E. Cummings \u00a01953<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Monday, \u00a0September 22 \u00a0– \u00a0 a little church Yesterday, \u00a0I drove a friend from out of town around the city in early autumn\u2019s flashing sun. \u00a0I call Detroit drive-arounds for friends from elsewhere \u201cRuins Porn and Detroit Rebirth\u201d \u00a0 (i.e., … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11641],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=787"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":791,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787\/revisions\/791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}