Georgic Archives - abecedarium:nyc

the quiver of bone and the rings of a tree trunk

BY Liv Ryan | April 15, 2020 | FILED UNDER Georgic, Manhattan, Rete, Umbel, Vaticinate

I don’t remember much from high school biology. What I can recall is that a bone’s capillary network is arranged in a series of concentric circles. This means that at the microscopic level, our insides resemble the rings of a tree trunk. This shared architecture has been running my mind. The trees on my block are just beginning to flower; the budding branches are tender and bright. As for myself, after weeks of eating chips and festering in my apartment, I am growing sour and more bloated by the day. How dare you! I think, glumly staring at the view from my window. Nobody is flourishing right now, but spring is a reminder some things are certain. The sun rises, flowers bloom. With each passing year a tree gains a new ring around its trunk and grows stronger, all the more able to weather what comes next.

The High Line, September 2018

BY Moira Sweeney | April 13, 2020 | FILED UNDER Culminant, Foudroyant, Georgic, Holus Bolus, Manhattan, Vaticinate

I love coming to know a city through walking. When I was last in New York in early Autumn 2018, I travelled by foot almost everywhere – from Mid to Downtown Manhattan, across Brooklyn Bridge to the Time Out Market and from Brooklyn Heights down to Carroll Gardens. Amongst my many photographs mapping these treks, are a series of short audio-visual clips on The High Line. In the late, warm afternoon sun, walkers meander lazily, casting their fleeting shadows on the trees and foliage of the Line. The moving imagery and sounds are now traces of a fully breathing city, in temporary slumber, waiting to dazzle again.

The High Line, September 2018

A Georgic for a Forgotten Planet

BY Lynne Sachs | June 1, 2014 | FILED UNDER Brooklyn, Georgic, Places, Words

This is my film “Georgic for a Forgotten Planet”

I first came upon the word georgic on a cold, winter evening in a cabin at the McDowell Colony in rural New Hampshire. I’d decided to spend two weeks there reading the dictionary in preparation for creating Abecedarium:NYC. It wasn’t until months later that my dear friend Michele Lowrie, a Latin Classicist, informed me that the word referred to one of the greatest agricultural works of literature ever written, the 2000 year old epic poem by Virgil simply called The Georgics I – V. Reading it was utterly transportive, like arriving hungry to a field in anticipation of a bountiful harvest. (L. Sachs)

An inspiring gardener from a Brooklyn community garden

BY Lynne Sachs | June 13, 2010 | FILED UNDER Brooklyn, Georgic

This woman features in my GEORGIC cine poem. Her reverie on planting kept me going during the making of the film. I met her two years ago when I was shooting in the community garden at 4th Avenue and Baltic in Brooklyn. She talked about her garden as if it were her best friend. I tried to find her a few weeks later by asking people in the garden who she was and nobody could identify her. Recently, my husband Mark saw her picture on this billboard. I still do not know her name, but I do adore her hair, as it reminds me of the roots of a tree. I am sad to say that the garden itself is gone. They paved over paradise, just like the song. Lynne

GEORGIC – an homage to what used to be

BY kaytconti | November 3, 2009 | FILED UNDER Georgic, Manhattan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITZ5Pt2GclQBattery Park City is one of Manhattan’s most picturesque locations. It’s also one of the most synthetic. The carefully crafted promenade, parks, and plazas comprise an area of New York that’s undeniably gorgeous. Yet, somehow, the well-groomed gardens and lawns remind me that centuries ago Manhattan was untouched- its flora and fauna chaotic and beautiful in their original habitat. Today BPC represents the antithesis of that ideal. It is man-made nature, and still there is no denying that it’s beautiful in its artificiality.

A Georgic Lunch in Queens

BY taxikin | February 22, 2009 | FILED UNDER Georgic, Queens

In New York City, agriculture takes on a whole new meaning in the urban landscape. Agriculture is not found in fields, but in apartments in the form of plants and food. The roots of co-op’s and community gardens lie in the kitchens of the city’s elders, who feed us and raise us and preserve memory of simpler times past. When I think of urban agriculture, I think of my grandmother who never runs out of things to say and would never turn down a hungry mouth to feed.

Georgic!

BY wml230 | October 8, 2008 | FILED UNDER Definition, Georgic, Information, Manhattan, Places, Words

An brief exploration into georgicism (made up word).

geor•gic |’jôrjik|
noun
1 a poem or book dealing with agriculture or rural topics.

2 disambiguation: a short film by Wei-Ming Lam shot in upstate New York on the Appalachian Trail (Metro North stop) and on location in Manhattan on the lower west side.

adjective – poetic/literary
rustic; pastoral

-Oxford American Dictionaires