7200
February 28th, 1968
marked the date
Boyce Brandon Harris
(my octogenarian
widower father)
purchased small
tract of land
Pooh would Winnie
constituting shadowed sliver
once hailing, hall
marking, harkening,
glorious vast
"Glen Elm" estate,
which circa
1910 encompassed
a hundred plus
acres of woodland
(including a pond frequented
by migrating
Canadian Geese)
eventually zoned
for commercial,
industrial, and
residential development
(all in the name
of productive land use)
particularly put into motion
courtesy Donald J. Neilson,
who transformed
expansive woodland
rivaling shutterfly
sprouting like mush
rooms towed stools
booming explosively
after ample precipitation
little houses
on the hillside
little houses
made of ticky tacky...
popped up overnight
transforming landscape
displacing flora
and fauna with
vinyl city
(minus spit of property
papa bought)
manicured bumped
uglies with wild wisp
reduced pristine
niche leftover
jot haven
squawking disoriented
geese instincts
thwarted, where
drained wetlands
a Arcadian
past suburbanization
overlaying (palimpsest
like) rural setting
trademark bucolic
print Currier And Ives
stock in trade
signature prints
landscape sparse
human population
country aire sprinkled
with family farms
fresh dairy,
produce, vegetables
butchered animals
free ranging
without synthetic injections
nostalgia faintly
recreated here
Highland Manor Apartments
Schwenksville,
Pennsylvania
a slip of country revered
against a Paul Ling
urbanization
nothing appears familiar
retracing roadways,
now major highways
frequent moments
breeds alienation
familiar ground confusing,
frightening, and perplexing.
