The new July-August edition of Harvard Magazine has an interesting article in its Brief Life Vita series, on Frederick Law Olmstead, calling him the “first landscape psychoarchitect.” Olmstead believed that introducing nature to the urban scene could be “prophylactic and therapeutic” — a cure for the “nervous tension, over-anxiety, hasteful disposition” of the city. The piece reminded me that Schenectady’s lovely little Central Park was designed by Olmstead, and that I could use a little Olmsteadian therapy. So, I took a short drive over there this afternoon, and savored its Rose Garden.
My lucky friend and frequent Honored Guest Poet, Yu Chang, lives right across the street from the park (where we play bocce). It is often a source of haiku inspiration for Yu. Here are a few examples:
duck pond
making small talk
with strangers
Central Park
the echo of her voice
in every direction
someone’s hat
left on a park bench
quiet afternoon
bumblebee
deeper in the petunia
summer heat
topiary garden
a lantern
in bloom
after the rain
the white lilac
just my height
shutter lag –
just bees
on the blossoms
………….. by Yu Chang – from Upstate Dim Sum
except “bumblebee” – A New Resonance (1999); Acorn I
(see similar haiga at HaigaOnline Vol. 8-1)
early thaw
she serves the canard
a l’orange
…. poem by dagosan; photo by Arthur Giacalone
See our prior post with links to more photos of The Gates exhibition in that other Central Park.
alone at the rose garden –
ooh and ah
to myself
…… by dagosan
People are adopting different formula to overcome nervous tension, over-anxiety, hasteful disposition etc. But the notion that Olmstead shown in the post is quite wonderful. If the curing is in the nature itself then why we people should go for those medicines. This thought is amazing…
Comment by Santana — August 30, 2007 @ 10:44 pm
Love the blog, if i may ask, what software are you using? how much does it cost? where do you get it? If it’s not a secret email me some details wouldya?
thanks in advance!
Comment by CalArch — February 13, 2008 @ 6:20 am
Hi, CalArch. My weblog software is no secret. As it says at the foot of the page, we’re powered by WordPress. If you check out their link, you’ll see that they offer free weblogs, or you can choose another web service.
f/k/a is on the Harvard webserver, which offers free weblogs to members of the Harvard community (alumni, current students, faculty).
Comment by David Giacalone — February 13, 2008 @ 9:16 am
Thanks for very interesting article. btw.
I really enjoyed reading all of your posts.
It’s interesting to read ideas, and observations from someone else’s
point of view… makes you think more. So please keep up the great work.
Greetings. Bayern Web Design
Comment by Bayern Web-Design — March 1, 2008 @ 3:19 am
An amazing post regarding inspiration, Especially when it come’s to web design. I always feel that usability driven sites work better than client driven sites.
If you get the concept correct and design just right for the user, then the client will follow.
I enjoyed reading this post.
Thanks ,
Steve
Comment by Steve Williams — August 29, 2008 @ 1:37 pm