Outside Penn Station, 2008
Manhattan
Here, raindrops on puddles don’t dissipate. The buildings are too tall and the sun doesn’t quite make it down this far: It seeps into cracks in the sky, sometimes, while the water tries to trickle through the splits and fissures in the concrete.
Pumps across the city fight to stop the water table rising, re-distributing the gallons that threaten to overwhelm the subway tracks, a daily battle against the inevitable consequences of burying the lakes and rivers of this island.
When Lexington crumbles under its own weight, through the weakened foundations and onto the Metro below, we will blame the rain.
But the sunlight doesn’t reach down this far, as the buildings stretch to block the daylight, so maybe we should just blame the sky instead.
© Matthew Sheret, 2008
