ysabetwordsmith (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ysabetwordsmith) wrote2020-12-17 02:51 pm
ysabetwordsmith) wrote2020-12-17 02:51 pm
Poem: "Give Back Grace and Delight"
This poem came out of the June 2, 2020 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from technoshaman, chanter1944, curiosity, wyld_dandelyon, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rix_scaedu, and Anonymous. It also fills the "early" square in my 6-1-20 card for the Cottoncandy Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by Anthony & Shirley Barrette. It belongs to the Broken Angels thread of the Polychrome Heroics series.
"Give Back Grace and Delight"
[Friday, April 22, 2016]
It was early when Boss Blaster
went out for a walk, the spring air
still brisk despite the sunshine that
promised a beautiful day to come.
The tulips were blooming in
Stone Soup Park, a riot of
red and yellow, pink and white.
He was pulling a few weeds
from the flower garden when
a white truck pulled up.
The back of the pickup was
filled with leafy green saplings
and what looked like bundles of
sticks but must be shrubs still
in their dormant phase.
The driver leaned out,
a sturdy young man wearing
a biology sweatshirt. "I'm
Grove Bessey," he said. "I
hear you're the man to talk to
about this park. Would you
like some free trees for it?"
Boss Blaster looked around.
Stone Soup Park had come
a long way since its origin as
an empty lot, but it was still tiny.
With the showerhouse and
the bunkhouse, the big sign,
the new concrete paths, and
other improvements, there wasn't
really room left for trees. It was
better kept as open space for
people to run around in.
"I'm sorry, but I don't think
trees would fit here," he said.
"Ah, that's too bad," Grove said.
"The city bought truckloads of 'em
for us to give away for Earth Day.
Do you have anywhere else
that you could put a few?"
That reminded Boss Blaster
of something that Mrs. Dr. Finn
had said about Stone Soup Park.
"The more successfully a city
mingles a diversity of uses and
users in its everyday streets,
the more successfully its people
populate and support the parks
that give back grace and delight
to their neighborhoods instead
of remaining vacant eyesores,"
she'd told him. "Good job."
He'd been setting aside funds
for neighborhood improvement
in the interest of getting a lid on
the local crime rates by relieving
pressures that drove people
to go out and make trouble.
Maybe now was a good time
to put some of that fund to use.
"Not at the moment, but let me
see what I can do," Boss Blaster said.
"Do you have a number I can call?"
"Yeah, here." Grove scribbled on
the back of a business card from
Lincoln Parks & Recreation,
then handed it to him.
As the truck drove away,
Boss Blaster called
his real estate agent,
Farrah Van Andel.
"What have you got in
instant sales today?"
he asked. "I'm looking
for empty lots and such."
"I'm sure I can find something
for you," Farrah said. "Remember
that an instant sale waives your right
to inspections, though, and most of
what I have now comes from folks
who hope to unload property
that's probably soaked in lead."
"No problem," said Boss Blaster.
"I have connections for cleanup. I
want to put cash in the owner's hand
and start planting things today. What're
the cheapest, tattiest lots you have?"
"North Bottoms has a few empties
with soggy spots that nobody wants,"
said Farrah. "Lake Bottoms is
even more prone to flooding,
and in a couple of cases there,
the city banned rebuilding -- I have
one place that's just a basement
overflowing with green water."
"That sounds perfect,"
Boss Blaster said. "Do you
have pictures for those?"
"I'll send you what I have,"
said Farrah. "It's not much."
Boss Blaster looked at
the images on his phone,
then looked up prices for
other empty lots in the area.
"Good ones start at $24,000,"
he said. "Can you get me
two crummy ones for that?"
"Oh, sure," said Farrah.
"Two thirds of that would
buy you a probably-leaded lot,
and the rest would cover one
that's unfit for building on."
"Great," said Boss Blaster,
marking the ones that
he found acceptable.
"Let's get this going."
"Are you sure that's
a wise investment?"
Farrah asked. "You did
mention a modest budget
in previous conversations."
Boss Blaster chuckled.
"And what happens to
the property values in
a neighborhood that
adds more parks?"
"It goes up," she said.
"Oh! You're not looking
to buy properties that are
already valuable. You're
buying bargains and then
making them valuable."
"That's the plan," he said.
"You call the owners, find
some willing to close today,
and I'll head toward the bank."
That was easier said than done,
though, because Edie found him
dropping his handful of weeds
onto the compost pile.
"Are you planting today,
or just weeding?" she asked.
"Planting if I can buy another lot
or two to put things on," he said.
"Oh, we can have a planting party!"
Edie said, reaching for her phone.
"Hold your horses," said Boss Blaster.
"The deal's not done yet. I'll let you
know if it comes together, and
then you can do a phone tree."
"Well ... maybe I'll just go check
my garden tools, then," said Edie.
She'd probably spend the morning
sharpening spades and shears.
"That'll do," said Boss Blaster.
He knew that a phone tree would
turn up a dozen or two people
from all over the neighborhood,
so he wouldn't have to hire help.
From there he jogged over
to the bank, and by the time
he reached it, Farrah was
calling him about a deal.
"The owner of the lot on
New Hampshire Street is
happy to take cash and
call it done," she said.
"Tell him to meet us
there," said Boss Blaster.
He went into the bank and
picked up enough cash
to cover the transaction.
Then he called Pug so
the lot owner would have
an escort to his own bank.
Next Boss Blaster went to
the address and trotted around
the lot, pleased with what he saw.
It was mostly bare grass in
the middle, edged by trees and
shrubs tangled together, with
a concrete wall that most folks
would have found hideous but
to him looked like blank canvas.
He'd have to invite the graffiti artists
over to turn it into a forest mural --
they'd even pay for their own paint.
Boss Blaster was still exploring
the yard at speed when Farrah
brought the owner in her truck.
"It's windy all of a sudden,"
the owner said, clutching his hat.
"Welcome to Nebraska," Farrah said
in a dry tone. "If the wind stopped,
all the buildings would fall over."
Boss Blaster went to meet them,
and Farrah made the introductions.
"It's a nice place," the owner said.
"I just can't afford to develop it.
Right near the stadium, though!"
"That must make a lot of traffic jams,"
Boss Blaster said, eyeing the narrow road.
"Well, yeah, but you can walk there
from here," the owner argued.
"The Stadium Walk Apartments
are just across the back line."
Boss Blaster looked up at
the concrete wall. "I'll have
to take your word for that."
The owner knocked off
a thousand dollars from
his asking price, and
Boss Blaster took it.
He called Edie to get
the phone tree going,
and then Grove for
a truckload of trees.
Finally he called Cas
to inform the gang in case
anyone wanted to plant trees.
Grove showed up first, his truck
filled with a different mix of
tree and shrub seedlings.
"Wow, this place has
a lot of potential," he said.
"What do you want to plant?"
"I don't know," said Boss Blaster.
"You're the biologist, you tell me."
"Really?" Grove said, eyes wide.
"Subject to my approval, of course,"
said Boss Blaster. "I'm a businessman,
not a landscaper. I've got other folks
coming, though, and some of them
will doubtless bring contributions."
"Permission to scout the site?"
Grove said. "I know about
native species and gardening
for wildlife, but the right plants
depend on local conditions."
"Go ahead," said Boss Blaster.
"Plan for humans and wildlife --
I'm making it into another park,
but I want this one wooded."
Grove walked over the whole site,
marking the dry rise and the soggy spot.
"We're close to Salt Creek, so I bet
this place floods sometimes," he said.
"That's one reason I got it cheap,"
Boss Blaster said. "The wet part
isn't great for a lawn, and fixing
that kind of problem is expensive.
For a park, it's potentially an asset."
"Yeah, I got cottonwoods, sycamores,
and willows in the truck," said Grove.
"I figure bur oak and chinkapin oak
for the dry part. You could fit in
a picnic table or two there."
"That sounds like a good idea,"
said Boss Blaster, making a note
on his phone. "Leave a space."
Grove used flags in different colors
to mark the different planting areas.
"Don't let anyone dig near the red ones,"
he said. "There's a utility line underneath."
"Could we put a dirt trail over it safely?"
asked Boss Blaster. "People will
want to walk through the park."
"Dirt, no problem," said Grove.
"Concrete, you'd have to check."
"I already have one park with
a paved sidewalk," said Boss Blaster.
"Let's leave this one more natural."
"You want any fruiting species?"
Grove said. "They attract birds, and
you could have a food forest too."
"Sure," said Boss Blaster.
"What do you have?"
Grove checked the truck.
"I've got pawpaw, crabapple,
mulberry, elderberry -- oh, here's
serviceberry, they're kind of like
blueberries, nice fall color."
"Go for it," said Boss Blaster.
Edie pulled up with a carload
of assorted friends, most of whom
had brought something to plant.
"I took the opportunity to divide
my hostas, hope you don't mind,"
she said as she lugged pots of
big-leaved plants out of the trunk.
"Oh, let me lift that," Boss Blaster said,
shooing her away so he could reach them.
Someone else had flats of annuals, and
there were gorgeous red-leaved trees too.
"Hostas along the edge where it's shady,"
Grove said, pointing. "Japanese maples,
great, we'll use them as specimen trees
to put around the picnic tables."
"What picnic tables?" Bobbie said
as she came alongside them.
"We're going to put in a couple
on the dry spot," Boss Blaster said,
pointing to the gap. "Oak trees
around that, cottonwoods and
birches over there where it's wet."
The ground squeeshed underfoot
when he and the button twins
checked out the soggy spot.
"Oh, nice," said Edie. "We can
put the riverbank grape and
the bittersweet along here."
"You brought grapevines?"
Boss Blaster said, blinking.
"No, I brought the hostas,
somebody else brought grapes,"
said Edie. "I think that we may
have some dogwoods too."
Grove managed to steal
a moment from directing
volunteers to say, "If you're
really letting me organize this,
can I call my advisor and ask
about getting more credit for it?
I'm doing an internship in the parks."
"Go ahead," said Boss Blaster.
"You're doing a fine job so far.
Grove called, talked for a minute,
then put the phone to his shoulder.
"She says it's worth another credit
if I put in enough hours and write
a paper, but you'd have to sign off
on the project summary for me."
"I can do that," Boss Blaster said.
"How many hours do you need?"
"Sixteen, it's usually one a week,
but the semester's almost over,"
said Grove. "I'll probably get
almost half that done today."
"Are you allowed to switch
from delivering the trees to
planting?" said Boss Blaster.
"If it gets rid of them by
the truckload, definitely,"
Grove said with a nod.
Boss Blaster scanned the lot.
Bobbie and Kato focused on
digging holes so the older folks
could just plop in the trees.
Hali was exploring the wet area
by jumping up and down in the mud,
sensibly clad in a denim jumpsuit.
It'd take forever to get all that mud
out of her feathers, but worth it if it
got her playing with her whole body.
Then Farrah called back. "If you
still want that hole in the ground,
the owner is desperate to sell."
"I'll be right over," said Boss Blaster.
He tracked down Grove, who was
explaining something called
an oak guild to the seniors.
"Can you pick up more plants,
or should we stretch out what
we have here?" said Boss Blaster.
"I'm acquiring another empty lot,
this one with a flooding basement."
"I can get plenty more plants,
the city bought lots of them,"
said Grove. "You want more
of the wetland species, then?"
"Probably, though I haven't
seen the spot in person yet,"
said Boss Blaster. "Since
the basement floods, I was
wondering if that could be
turned into an actual pond."
"Yeah, probably," said Grove.
"I've heard of people converting
a basement into a pond, but I
don't know how to do it myself --
and with all the lead around here,
I'd be careful about the water."
"Oh wait, that reminds me,"
said Boss Blaster. He put in
a call for Dozer to come pull
the lead out of the current plot.
"Okay, that's done," he said.
"Can you get people organized
here, well enough to take a look
at the other place if I get it?"
"Sure," said Grove. "Most of
them know what they're doing.
Though if you're going to work
two sites at once, you need
to name them so folks don't get
confused about which is which."
Boss Blaster looked around at
the patch of triangular leaves that
would become a birch copse and
the oak saplings dotting the rise.
"How about Shady Grove Park
for this one?" he said, grinning.
Grove squeaked. "Really?"
"It needs a name, the name
fits, and you're doing the work,"
said Boss Blaster. "Why not?"
"Okay, that's ... really cool,"
Grove said. "It needs a sign."
Boss Blaster found a piece
of plywood that had been used
to carry plants and tipped it on
its side. He used a grease pen
to write Shady Grove Park.
A smattering of applause
sounded from the crowd.
"All right, folks, I'm going
to check out another lot in
Lake Bottoms," he said.
"You keep working here."
It didn't take long for him
to run over to the new place.
This one was nearly cup-shaped,
with a fringe of weeping willows
and birches surrounding the pit
of the old basement, full of water.
A raw swath of mud ran down
from a nearby parking lot where
runoff had eroded a path to the pool.
"Oh, I just don't know what do to
about this," said the old lady who
owned it. "Wasn't so bad before,
but they put in that parking lot and
the water just wouldn't quit. Then
the house burned down, and I
couldn't even sell the lot because
the city won't let anyone rebuild."
"I'll take it," said Boss Blaster.
"It's a bad place for a house,
but it will make a beautiful park."
She was so grateful that she
didn't even dicker over the price.
Boss Blaster called Pug to take her
to the bank. Meanwhile, he poked
at the muddy little gully in the yard.
"I wonder if we could control
the flow somehow," he mused.
"Possibly," said Farrah. "Rain gardens
aren't meant to contain high-speed flows,
but a kidney garden is. It's also called
a marsh filter if it connects to a pond.
My neighbor has one; it's quite pretty."
"Does it work?" said Boss Blaster.
"I've seen him turn it on in spring, and
the water goes from murky to crystal
in just a day or two," Farrah said.
Boss Blaster sent a picture to Grove
with the caption, Marsh filter?
Grove sent back a picture of
a zig-zag marsh filter and a smiley.
The next message just asked,
Want more wetland trees?
What kinds do you have?
Boss Blaster sent. He knew
some of the previous ones
would work, but wondered
if there were others too.
Silver maple, boxelder maple,
pecan, persimmon, Grove sent.
Fringetree and buttonbush too.
Bring those and a few folks from
Shady Grove Park, sent Boss Blaster.
I'll pass the word here in Lake Bottoms.
By the time Grove arrived with the truck
full of saplings, not only were the neighbors
milling around the yard, one of them was from
the Lincoln Saline Wetlands Nature Center.
"Hi, I'm Sally Pound," she said, all young
and fresh-faced. "I heard that you want
to build a marsh filter? I could help?"
"Right over there," said Boss Blaster.
"Water comes pouring off the pavement
and cuts through the yard into the pond."
"Um ... that's a basement?" she said.
"It was a basement. Now it's a pond,"
Boss Blaster said, indicating the water.
"I thought maybe we could turn it into
a wildlife pond with its own marsh."
"That'd take out the contaminants
from the parking lot," Sally said. She
looked up the slope, then picked her way
carefully down to the basement. "Oh look,
it has a wide entrance. Some old houses
used to have that for coal delivery."
"Is that good?" said Boss Blaster.
"Yeah, yeah, it's great -- it means
critters won't drown," Sally explained.
"Okay then," said Boss Blaster. "I've got
Grove here with a truck full of trees and
shrubs, including wetland species."
Sally and Grove immediately
started talking in Latin. It took
Boss Blaster a minute to figure out
they were probably naming species.
After a few minutes, Sally turned to
Boss Blaster and said, "We can fill in
the gaps around the outer hedgerow
with swamp trees and shrubs, but
you'll need to send someone to
a nursery for water-garden plants."
"Give me a list," said Boss Blaster.
"Arrowhead, blue rush, horsetail,
lobelia, swamp milkweed, jewelweed,
northern water horehound, and yarrow,"
Sally said. "Any of those will do, and
every nursery should have some."
"Write it down," said Boss Blaster,
waving for Bobbie. "Take this list and
get as much as you can." He peeled off
a few bills and handed her those too.
"Might take a while," said Bobbie.
"The closest nursery from here is
Oak Creek Plants & Flowers, and
it's past time for lunch already."
Boss Blaster looked at his watch.
It was a wonder that he hadn't
faceplanted from lack of food.
"Go to GrannyWeavs Soul Food
and get two buckets of party wings,
a bucket each of red beans & rice,
collards, and coleslaw plus whatever
dessert you want," he said to Bobbie.
"Drop those here, and you can
hit the nursery after lunch."
Bobbie called ahead to make it
faster, then called her brother
to order lunch at the other park.
Boss Blaster sensibly plopped
himself on a rock and then wormed
a hand into his pocket for a meal bar,
only to find it already empty.
"Here," said Sally, offering
him a bar from her own stash.
"Carob pemmican?" he said,
frowning at the unfamiliar wrapper.
"It's vegetarian, no actual meat
in it," she assured him. "It's good.
I discovered these when I hiked
the Appalachian Trail last summer."
Curious, Boss Blaster bit into it
and discovered that it was basically
a very dense brownie. He ate
the rest in just a few bites.
"Thanks," he said. "That
was surprisingly good."
"You're welcome,"
Sally said. "Look at
all these rocks -- you
probably have enough
to build a rock garden.
That'd offer shelter for
a lot of small wildlife."
"I'm not opposed,"
said Boss Blaster.
"They are in the way."
They were scattered
all over the yard, possibly
natural, or from landscaping,
but Grove was swearing at them.
"So, what are you going to call
this park?" Sally said. "Grove
told me you named the other one
after him, which is really sweet."
"I don't know," said Boss Blaster.
"Do you have any ideas?"
Down in the basement,
something began beeping.
"What in the world?" he said.
"Blanchard's cricket frog,"
Sally said. "They're cute --
and suddenly this place
reminds me of Frogmorton,
you know, from Tolkien?"
Boss Blaster had seen
the cartoons, but couldn't
remember a Frogmorton.
He liked the name, though,
and it seemed fitting.
"Frogmorton Park it is,"
Boss Blaster declared.
He leaned back to watch
his people mapping out
where to plant what.
Some of them were
gangsters on a break,
others just neighbors.
The Finns had taught him
that people most often ran wild
when they were too crowded,
too broke, too hungry, or
too cut off from nature.
That was really useful in
trying to get a lid on a city that
had been bugnuts for a while.
So Boss Blaster was waging
a quiet revolution with jobs,
food, and greenspace in hopes
of making Lincoln a better place.
The official leadership was still
trying to dig itself out of the scandal
from the lead pipe revelation, while
Boss Blaster entrenched himself.
A swallow swooped down
to scoop up mud for a nest.
This early in spring, not many
had started nesting, except
for a few getting a head start.
Laughter filled the air as
his people planted trees.
Yeah, it was working.
* * *
Notes:
This poem is long, so its character, location, and content notes appear separately.
technoshaman, chanter1944, curiosity, wyld_dandelyon, rix_scaedu, and Anonymous. It also fills the "early" square in my 6-1-20 card for the Cottoncandy Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by Anthony & Shirley Barrette. It belongs to the Broken Angels thread of the Polychrome Heroics series."Give Back Grace and Delight"
[Friday, April 22, 2016]
It was early when Boss Blaster
went out for a walk, the spring air
still brisk despite the sunshine that
promised a beautiful day to come.
The tulips were blooming in
Stone Soup Park, a riot of
red and yellow, pink and white.
He was pulling a few weeds
from the flower garden when
a white truck pulled up.
The back of the pickup was
filled with leafy green saplings
and what looked like bundles of
sticks but must be shrubs still
in their dormant phase.
The driver leaned out,
a sturdy young man wearing
a biology sweatshirt. "I'm
Grove Bessey," he said. "I
hear you're the man to talk to
about this park. Would you
like some free trees for it?"
Boss Blaster looked around.
Stone Soup Park had come
a long way since its origin as
an empty lot, but it was still tiny.
With the showerhouse and
the bunkhouse, the big sign,
the new concrete paths, and
other improvements, there wasn't
really room left for trees. It was
better kept as open space for
people to run around in.
"I'm sorry, but I don't think
trees would fit here," he said.
"Ah, that's too bad," Grove said.
"The city bought truckloads of 'em
for us to give away for Earth Day.
Do you have anywhere else
that you could put a few?"
That reminded Boss Blaster
of something that Mrs. Dr. Finn
had said about Stone Soup Park.
"The more successfully a city
mingles a diversity of uses and
users in its everyday streets,
the more successfully its people
populate and support the parks
that give back grace and delight
to their neighborhoods instead
of remaining vacant eyesores,"
she'd told him. "Good job."
He'd been setting aside funds
for neighborhood improvement
in the interest of getting a lid on
the local crime rates by relieving
pressures that drove people
to go out and make trouble.
Maybe now was a good time
to put some of that fund to use.
"Not at the moment, but let me
see what I can do," Boss Blaster said.
"Do you have a number I can call?"
"Yeah, here." Grove scribbled on
the back of a business card from
Lincoln Parks & Recreation,
then handed it to him.
As the truck drove away,
Boss Blaster called
his real estate agent,
Farrah Van Andel.
"What have you got in
instant sales today?"
he asked. "I'm looking
for empty lots and such."
"I'm sure I can find something
for you," Farrah said. "Remember
that an instant sale waives your right
to inspections, though, and most of
what I have now comes from folks
who hope to unload property
that's probably soaked in lead."
"No problem," said Boss Blaster.
"I have connections for cleanup. I
want to put cash in the owner's hand
and start planting things today. What're
the cheapest, tattiest lots you have?"
"North Bottoms has a few empties
with soggy spots that nobody wants,"
said Farrah. "Lake Bottoms is
even more prone to flooding,
and in a couple of cases there,
the city banned rebuilding -- I have
one place that's just a basement
overflowing with green water."
"That sounds perfect,"
Boss Blaster said. "Do you
have pictures for those?"
"I'll send you what I have,"
said Farrah. "It's not much."
Boss Blaster looked at
the images on his phone,
then looked up prices for
other empty lots in the area.
"Good ones start at $24,000,"
he said. "Can you get me
two crummy ones for that?"
"Oh, sure," said Farrah.
"Two thirds of that would
buy you a probably-leaded lot,
and the rest would cover one
that's unfit for building on."
"Great," said Boss Blaster,
marking the ones that
he found acceptable.
"Let's get this going."
"Are you sure that's
a wise investment?"
Farrah asked. "You did
mention a modest budget
in previous conversations."
Boss Blaster chuckled.
"And what happens to
the property values in
a neighborhood that
adds more parks?"
"It goes up," she said.
"Oh! You're not looking
to buy properties that are
already valuable. You're
buying bargains and then
making them valuable."
"That's the plan," he said.
"You call the owners, find
some willing to close today,
and I'll head toward the bank."
That was easier said than done,
though, because Edie found him
dropping his handful of weeds
onto the compost pile.
"Are you planting today,
or just weeding?" she asked.
"Planting if I can buy another lot
or two to put things on," he said.
"Oh, we can have a planting party!"
Edie said, reaching for her phone.
"Hold your horses," said Boss Blaster.
"The deal's not done yet. I'll let you
know if it comes together, and
then you can do a phone tree."
"Well ... maybe I'll just go check
my garden tools, then," said Edie.
She'd probably spend the morning
sharpening spades and shears.
"That'll do," said Boss Blaster.
He knew that a phone tree would
turn up a dozen or two people
from all over the neighborhood,
so he wouldn't have to hire help.
From there he jogged over
to the bank, and by the time
he reached it, Farrah was
calling him about a deal.
"The owner of the lot on
New Hampshire Street is
happy to take cash and
call it done," she said.
"Tell him to meet us
there," said Boss Blaster.
He went into the bank and
picked up enough cash
to cover the transaction.
Then he called Pug so
the lot owner would have
an escort to his own bank.
Next Boss Blaster went to
the address and trotted around
the lot, pleased with what he saw.
It was mostly bare grass in
the middle, edged by trees and
shrubs tangled together, with
a concrete wall that most folks
would have found hideous but
to him looked like blank canvas.
He'd have to invite the graffiti artists
over to turn it into a forest mural --
they'd even pay for their own paint.
Boss Blaster was still exploring
the yard at speed when Farrah
brought the owner in her truck.
"It's windy all of a sudden,"
the owner said, clutching his hat.
"Welcome to Nebraska," Farrah said
in a dry tone. "If the wind stopped,
all the buildings would fall over."
Boss Blaster went to meet them,
and Farrah made the introductions.
"It's a nice place," the owner said.
"I just can't afford to develop it.
Right near the stadium, though!"
"That must make a lot of traffic jams,"
Boss Blaster said, eyeing the narrow road.
"Well, yeah, but you can walk there
from here," the owner argued.
"The Stadium Walk Apartments
are just across the back line."
Boss Blaster looked up at
the concrete wall. "I'll have
to take your word for that."
The owner knocked off
a thousand dollars from
his asking price, and
Boss Blaster took it.
He called Edie to get
the phone tree going,
and then Grove for
a truckload of trees.
Finally he called Cas
to inform the gang in case
anyone wanted to plant trees.
Grove showed up first, his truck
filled with a different mix of
tree and shrub seedlings.
"Wow, this place has
a lot of potential," he said.
"What do you want to plant?"
"I don't know," said Boss Blaster.
"You're the biologist, you tell me."
"Really?" Grove said, eyes wide.
"Subject to my approval, of course,"
said Boss Blaster. "I'm a businessman,
not a landscaper. I've got other folks
coming, though, and some of them
will doubtless bring contributions."
"Permission to scout the site?"
Grove said. "I know about
native species and gardening
for wildlife, but the right plants
depend on local conditions."
"Go ahead," said Boss Blaster.
"Plan for humans and wildlife --
I'm making it into another park,
but I want this one wooded."
Grove walked over the whole site,
marking the dry rise and the soggy spot.
"We're close to Salt Creek, so I bet
this place floods sometimes," he said.
"That's one reason I got it cheap,"
Boss Blaster said. "The wet part
isn't great for a lawn, and fixing
that kind of problem is expensive.
For a park, it's potentially an asset."
"Yeah, I got cottonwoods, sycamores,
and willows in the truck," said Grove.
"I figure bur oak and chinkapin oak
for the dry part. You could fit in
a picnic table or two there."
"That sounds like a good idea,"
said Boss Blaster, making a note
on his phone. "Leave a space."
Grove used flags in different colors
to mark the different planting areas.
"Don't let anyone dig near the red ones,"
he said. "There's a utility line underneath."
"Could we put a dirt trail over it safely?"
asked Boss Blaster. "People will
want to walk through the park."
"Dirt, no problem," said Grove.
"Concrete, you'd have to check."
"I already have one park with
a paved sidewalk," said Boss Blaster.
"Let's leave this one more natural."
"You want any fruiting species?"
Grove said. "They attract birds, and
you could have a food forest too."
"Sure," said Boss Blaster.
"What do you have?"
Grove checked the truck.
"I've got pawpaw, crabapple,
mulberry, elderberry -- oh, here's
serviceberry, they're kind of like
blueberries, nice fall color."
"Go for it," said Boss Blaster.
Edie pulled up with a carload
of assorted friends, most of whom
had brought something to plant.
"I took the opportunity to divide
my hostas, hope you don't mind,"
she said as she lugged pots of
big-leaved plants out of the trunk.
"Oh, let me lift that," Boss Blaster said,
shooing her away so he could reach them.
Someone else had flats of annuals, and
there were gorgeous red-leaved trees too.
"Hostas along the edge where it's shady,"
Grove said, pointing. "Japanese maples,
great, we'll use them as specimen trees
to put around the picnic tables."
"What picnic tables?" Bobbie said
as she came alongside them.
"We're going to put in a couple
on the dry spot," Boss Blaster said,
pointing to the gap. "Oak trees
around that, cottonwoods and
birches over there where it's wet."
The ground squeeshed underfoot
when he and the button twins
checked out the soggy spot.
"Oh, nice," said Edie. "We can
put the riverbank grape and
the bittersweet along here."
"You brought grapevines?"
Boss Blaster said, blinking.
"No, I brought the hostas,
somebody else brought grapes,"
said Edie. "I think that we may
have some dogwoods too."
Grove managed to steal
a moment from directing
volunteers to say, "If you're
really letting me organize this,
can I call my advisor and ask
about getting more credit for it?
I'm doing an internship in the parks."
"Go ahead," said Boss Blaster.
"You're doing a fine job so far.
Grove called, talked for a minute,
then put the phone to his shoulder.
"She says it's worth another credit
if I put in enough hours and write
a paper, but you'd have to sign off
on the project summary for me."
"I can do that," Boss Blaster said.
"How many hours do you need?"
"Sixteen, it's usually one a week,
but the semester's almost over,"
said Grove. "I'll probably get
almost half that done today."
"Are you allowed to switch
from delivering the trees to
planting?" said Boss Blaster.
"If it gets rid of them by
the truckload, definitely,"
Grove said with a nod.
Boss Blaster scanned the lot.
Bobbie and Kato focused on
digging holes so the older folks
could just plop in the trees.
Hali was exploring the wet area
by jumping up and down in the mud,
sensibly clad in a denim jumpsuit.
It'd take forever to get all that mud
out of her feathers, but worth it if it
got her playing with her whole body.
Then Farrah called back. "If you
still want that hole in the ground,
the owner is desperate to sell."
"I'll be right over," said Boss Blaster.
He tracked down Grove, who was
explaining something called
an oak guild to the seniors.
"Can you pick up more plants,
or should we stretch out what
we have here?" said Boss Blaster.
"I'm acquiring another empty lot,
this one with a flooding basement."
"I can get plenty more plants,
the city bought lots of them,"
said Grove. "You want more
of the wetland species, then?"
"Probably, though I haven't
seen the spot in person yet,"
said Boss Blaster. "Since
the basement floods, I was
wondering if that could be
turned into an actual pond."
"Yeah, probably," said Grove.
"I've heard of people converting
a basement into a pond, but I
don't know how to do it myself --
and with all the lead around here,
I'd be careful about the water."
"Oh wait, that reminds me,"
said Boss Blaster. He put in
a call for Dozer to come pull
the lead out of the current plot.
"Okay, that's done," he said.
"Can you get people organized
here, well enough to take a look
at the other place if I get it?"
"Sure," said Grove. "Most of
them know what they're doing.
Though if you're going to work
two sites at once, you need
to name them so folks don't get
confused about which is which."
Boss Blaster looked around at
the patch of triangular leaves that
would become a birch copse and
the oak saplings dotting the rise.
"How about Shady Grove Park
for this one?" he said, grinning.
Grove squeaked. "Really?"
"It needs a name, the name
fits, and you're doing the work,"
said Boss Blaster. "Why not?"
"Okay, that's ... really cool,"
Grove said. "It needs a sign."
Boss Blaster found a piece
of plywood that had been used
to carry plants and tipped it on
its side. He used a grease pen
to write Shady Grove Park.
A smattering of applause
sounded from the crowd.
"All right, folks, I'm going
to check out another lot in
Lake Bottoms," he said.
"You keep working here."
It didn't take long for him
to run over to the new place.
This one was nearly cup-shaped,
with a fringe of weeping willows
and birches surrounding the pit
of the old basement, full of water.
A raw swath of mud ran down
from a nearby parking lot where
runoff had eroded a path to the pool.
"Oh, I just don't know what do to
about this," said the old lady who
owned it. "Wasn't so bad before,
but they put in that parking lot and
the water just wouldn't quit. Then
the house burned down, and I
couldn't even sell the lot because
the city won't let anyone rebuild."
"I'll take it," said Boss Blaster.
"It's a bad place for a house,
but it will make a beautiful park."
She was so grateful that she
didn't even dicker over the price.
Boss Blaster called Pug to take her
to the bank. Meanwhile, he poked
at the muddy little gully in the yard.
"I wonder if we could control
the flow somehow," he mused.
"Possibly," said Farrah. "Rain gardens
aren't meant to contain high-speed flows,
but a kidney garden is. It's also called
a marsh filter if it connects to a pond.
My neighbor has one; it's quite pretty."
"Does it work?" said Boss Blaster.
"I've seen him turn it on in spring, and
the water goes from murky to crystal
in just a day or two," Farrah said.
Boss Blaster sent a picture to Grove
with the caption, Marsh filter?
Grove sent back a picture of
a zig-zag marsh filter and a smiley.
The next message just asked,
Want more wetland trees?
What kinds do you have?
Boss Blaster sent. He knew
some of the previous ones
would work, but wondered
if there were others too.
Silver maple, boxelder maple,
pecan, persimmon, Grove sent.
Fringetree and buttonbush too.
Bring those and a few folks from
Shady Grove Park, sent Boss Blaster.
I'll pass the word here in Lake Bottoms.
By the time Grove arrived with the truck
full of saplings, not only were the neighbors
milling around the yard, one of them was from
the Lincoln Saline Wetlands Nature Center.
"Hi, I'm Sally Pound," she said, all young
and fresh-faced. "I heard that you want
to build a marsh filter? I could help?"
"Right over there," said Boss Blaster.
"Water comes pouring off the pavement
and cuts through the yard into the pond."
"Um ... that's a basement?" she said.
"It was a basement. Now it's a pond,"
Boss Blaster said, indicating the water.
"I thought maybe we could turn it into
a wildlife pond with its own marsh."
"That'd take out the contaminants
from the parking lot," Sally said. She
looked up the slope, then picked her way
carefully down to the basement. "Oh look,
it has a wide entrance. Some old houses
used to have that for coal delivery."
"Is that good?" said Boss Blaster.
"Yeah, yeah, it's great -- it means
critters won't drown," Sally explained.
"Okay then," said Boss Blaster. "I've got
Grove here with a truck full of trees and
shrubs, including wetland species."
Sally and Grove immediately
started talking in Latin. It took
Boss Blaster a minute to figure out
they were probably naming species.
After a few minutes, Sally turned to
Boss Blaster and said, "We can fill in
the gaps around the outer hedgerow
with swamp trees and shrubs, but
you'll need to send someone to
a nursery for water-garden plants."
"Give me a list," said Boss Blaster.
"Arrowhead, blue rush, horsetail,
lobelia, swamp milkweed, jewelweed,
northern water horehound, and yarrow,"
Sally said. "Any of those will do, and
every nursery should have some."
"Write it down," said Boss Blaster,
waving for Bobbie. "Take this list and
get as much as you can." He peeled off
a few bills and handed her those too.
"Might take a while," said Bobbie.
"The closest nursery from here is
Oak Creek Plants & Flowers, and
it's past time for lunch already."
Boss Blaster looked at his watch.
It was a wonder that he hadn't
faceplanted from lack of food.
"Go to GrannyWeavs Soul Food
and get two buckets of party wings,
a bucket each of red beans & rice,
collards, and coleslaw plus whatever
dessert you want," he said to Bobbie.
"Drop those here, and you can
hit the nursery after lunch."
Bobbie called ahead to make it
faster, then called her brother
to order lunch at the other park.
Boss Blaster sensibly plopped
himself on a rock and then wormed
a hand into his pocket for a meal bar,
only to find it already empty.
"Here," said Sally, offering
him a bar from her own stash.
"Carob pemmican?" he said,
frowning at the unfamiliar wrapper.
"It's vegetarian, no actual meat
in it," she assured him. "It's good.
I discovered these when I hiked
the Appalachian Trail last summer."
Curious, Boss Blaster bit into it
and discovered that it was basically
a very dense brownie. He ate
the rest in just a few bites.
"Thanks," he said. "That
was surprisingly good."
"You're welcome,"
Sally said. "Look at
all these rocks -- you
probably have enough
to build a rock garden.
That'd offer shelter for
a lot of small wildlife."
"I'm not opposed,"
said Boss Blaster.
"They are in the way."
They were scattered
all over the yard, possibly
natural, or from landscaping,
but Grove was swearing at them.
"So, what are you going to call
this park?" Sally said. "Grove
told me you named the other one
after him, which is really sweet."
"I don't know," said Boss Blaster.
"Do you have any ideas?"
Down in the basement,
something began beeping.
"What in the world?" he said.
"Blanchard's cricket frog,"
Sally said. "They're cute --
and suddenly this place
reminds me of Frogmorton,
you know, from Tolkien?"
Boss Blaster had seen
the cartoons, but couldn't
remember a Frogmorton.
He liked the name, though,
and it seemed fitting.
"Frogmorton Park it is,"
Boss Blaster declared.
He leaned back to watch
his people mapping out
where to plant what.
Some of them were
gangsters on a break,
others just neighbors.
The Finns had taught him
that people most often ran wild
when they were too crowded,
too broke, too hungry, or
too cut off from nature.
That was really useful in
trying to get a lid on a city that
had been bugnuts for a while.
So Boss Blaster was waging
a quiet revolution with jobs,
food, and greenspace in hopes
of making Lincoln a better place.
The official leadership was still
trying to dig itself out of the scandal
from the lead pipe revelation, while
Boss Blaster entrenched himself.
A swallow swooped down
to scoop up mud for a nest.
This early in spring, not many
had started nesting, except
for a few getting a head start.
Laughter filled the air as
his people planted trees.
Yeah, it was working.
* * *
Notes:
This poem is long, so its character, location, and content notes appear separately.
no subject
Heh, I remember volunteering for a project that ended up being called Frogmorton as well. Old MoD bomb range, full of craters which ended up being a few hundred ponds and lakes, ranging from saucepan sized to something you could probably float a battleship in. Couldn't build on it, might set something off and make another hole in the ground. So.. it ended up as a wetland park.
Place was deafening in spring, what with a dozen or so frog and toad species.
I love the way Boss Blaster just gets stuff done though.. and hang stuff like planning permission and so on. That is most conservationists dream...
Thoughts
That sounds awesome. :D
>> Place was deafening in spring, what with a dozen or so frog and toad species.<<
Yay!
>> I love the way Boss Blaster just gets stuff done though.. and hang stuff like planning permission and so on. That is most conservationists dream... <<
Two things to consider:
1) Terramagne prefers not to waste time and money, hence the "instant sale" option. It's only suited for a limited range of circumstances where the buyer either doesn't care about the condition of the property or can tell at a glance that it's find for their use, and the seller cares more about speed than profit or process. If you're talking about empty lots, often the inspections just waste resources, and skipping them rarely causes serious problems. It makes sense.
2) Boss Blaster didn't do anything that needed permission. You can plant whatever you want on your own property as long as you don't hit buried utilities. T-America has an app for that where you use the GPS on your smartphone, walk around, and it tells you where stuff is buried. Much faster and cheaper for everyone than calling in a request and waiting a week for them to send a guy out with flags. All the labor was volunteer (except for Grove, whom the city happily assigned to dispense trees to one citizen) and most of the supplies were free too.
Re: Thoughts
"You can plant whatever you want on your own property as long as you don't hit buried utilities"
Yeahhhh.... that isn't always the case, especially not with trees. At least, here that is. You plant a tree, and depending on species, it can impact the view. We have laws regarding interfering with line of sight and so on, that require planning permission. Ditto with water courses and so on, what you do affects whoever's downstream.
That said, most wetland species tend not to be too tall and in the case of the basement turned pond there isn't a downstream to consider. Although pooled water like can affect the local hydrological structure.. if there's standing ground water year round now, the car park might experience subsidence, maybe even a land slip.
That said... the old homeowner could've sued them because of the run-off affecting her property. and the new trees should bind the soil nicely, as well as control the amount of subsoil water due to transpiration.
Re: Thoughts
America is bigger, so fewer places have restrictions on what can be planted.
>>Ditto with water courses and so on, what you do affects whoever's downstream.<<
Water people will fight over, but that's natural water. Boss Blaster didn't do anything new with water, just managed what was already there.
>>That said... the old homeowner could've sued them because of the run-off affecting her property. <<
In theory, yes. In practice, people who can afford to lay a parking lot have more money and clout than a little old lady.
>> and the new trees should bind the soil nicely, as well as control the amount of subsoil water due to transpiration.<<
Exactly. The new plantings will keep the water from becoming a nuisance and help sop it up.