Excellent prompt, Fran. While I don't live in a big city, there's plenty of small town "decay" among the old, abandoned buildings along main street. Nevada itself is a collection of ghost towns and broken dreams, boom and bust wanderers going from one strike to another. I'll see what I can come up with on this prompt. Thank you.
Meanwhile, I'll leave you with this poem from my book:
How sad! I love the old barns around here in Carson Valley. Most of the ranches here go back 150 years and their barns are hanging in there. If they do decay to the point where the wind blows them over, they're replaced with metal structures. Granted, those don't have the romantic appeal of the wooden ones, but the owls will make their homes in them just as in the old barns. AND the barns aren't replace by a housing tract unless the rancher is really struggling and has to sell land.
So much of Emeryville is completely unrecognisable since I left the Bay Area in the early nineties. Some of it shows signs of prosperity (read gentrification) but most is so unsympathetic to the history and lives lived there. I love semi derelict buildings too. So much character.
Excellent prompt, Fran. While I don't live in a big city, there's plenty of small town "decay" among the old, abandoned buildings along main street. Nevada itself is a collection of ghost towns and broken dreams, boom and bust wanderers going from one strike to another. I'll see what I can come up with on this prompt. Thank you.
Meanwhile, I'll leave you with this poem from my book:
Note on a Fencepost
Thank you, Rancher,
for not tearing down your barn
with its shattered roof
and walls leaning
further atilt each spring
taking up far too much space
on your tidy spread
it languishes peacefully
like grandpa on the porch
its stories growing more distorted
with each telling
too tough to collapse
too brittle to serve
yet winking with mischief
as if it's gotten away with something.
I remember barns like that in Minnesota. I suppose they’ve all been torn down by now. We used to drive past small farms. They are all gone now, too.
How sad! I love the old barns around here in Carson Valley. Most of the ranches here go back 150 years and their barns are hanging in there. If they do decay to the point where the wind blows them over, they're replaced with metal structures. Granted, those don't have the romantic appeal of the wooden ones, but the owls will make their homes in them just as in the old barns. AND the barns aren't replace by a housing tract unless the rancher is really struggling and has to sell land.
Bravo
So much of Emeryville is completely unrecognisable since I left the Bay Area in the early nineties. Some of it shows signs of prosperity (read gentrification) but most is so unsympathetic to the history and lives lived there. I love semi derelict buildings too. So much character.
Thanks for the update. I haven’t been to Emeryville in maybe 50 years.
Relating madly to this fabulous piece & its accompanying photos!