Between the cracks in city sidewalks, nature reigns.
Around the junked cars in the river, water flows.
Between the trash and shards of glass
Lying in the loamy soil near suburban riverbanks
The plants spring up to cover
The debris of human life
And workers, shoppers, children hurry past.
Layers of debris and art lie buried deep beneath the paths,
Plants with answers for civilizations, growing in between the cracks.
Lampposts in the forests of city parks, with their cracked glass,
On the less-frequented streets, are encroached upon by weeds.
Where the trails behind the streets have been let go
Lies the bubbling spring, where watercress grows.

***

In the early spring we gather
By the banks of the Bronx River
On a lush suburban trailway
With our baskets and our bags
Avoiding any litter
To observe and gently gather
Edible and medicinal plants that peak there in the spring.
With joy, we greet the floodplains
See the startling sweep of flowers
That spring insists on giving and giving
Lavishly each year.
Crazy, in-your-face abundance
Beauty, uses, hidden punishments, like the nettle's sting.
Wild ginger, fiddleheads, and knotweed,
Violets, ramps, and cuckoo flower,
Cut-leaf toothwort, burdock, jewelweed--
Mushrooms, if you're lucky.
The roots of yellow dock grow deep into the ground by rushing water
We scrape their dull exterior to reveal the brightest yellow.

We fall into a quiet rhythm
Splitting off in little groups, then coming back together
Bonding in our common purpose.
Calm and pleasure come upon us.
Something about a group of people
Walking together into nature
Shows us how apart we are
From other things in nature
Though it is our cradle and our blood
And how the earth we walk upon
Is not of our creation
Yet what a part of it we are
Where nature meets civilization.