THE JUNGLE OUTSIDE MY WINDOW

DEC 2021 ©️ NYC
PJ HAYWARD

There is a little alleyway downstairs from my windows which face the back of the building where I live. When I moved here in 1984 or 5 there were 6 little houses down there on either side of this alleyway. They had been there since sometime who knows when, probably at least the 1890s or so.. Each one of these houses had a small backyard and front yard. Not much land but everyone had a huge tree in their backyard. I live on the 6th story of a 7 story building. By the time those trees reached up here to my floor it was like being in the Amazon from my point of view. Out my bedroom and living room windows were the tops of those enormous trees, with the alleyway downstairs below.

Sitting at my window, I would be just tranfixed by Life! Birds of every variety would fill the branches of these trees that brushed against my windows. So many different beautiful songs would all be wildly somehow in sync. Man you would just be transported to another world.

Life happening by the boatload right outside my window!
Anyway, one day I woke up to the sound of bulldozers down in the alleyway below my window.. It had been very quiet down there for quite some time now, people having moved out and so forth. But on this morning I woke up to the sound of bulldozers knocking over things. Next thing I turned around and those beautiful trees were gone – just vanished. Now, those enormous trees full of life have been replaced by 6 small buildings with maybe 6 apartments or condos or whatever they are in each building. Just 6 buildings of people rushing in-and-out in a hurry to get to where they’re going, from the alleyway behind my house.