V.V. (7) Dryads and Dr Doolittlism

[jbor]

    ... the rusty Hudson and its tugs and barges (what in this city
    pass, perhaps, for dryads: watch for them the next winter day
    you happen to be overpassed, gently growing out of the concrete,
    trying to be part of it or at least feel safe from the wind and
    the ugly feeling they -- we? -- have about where it is that
    persistent river is really flowing) ... 112.24

The Hudson (via the Mohawk) flows from Lake Erie right into New York
harbour, doesn't it? That system of man-made canals and locks is what *made*
New York, put it on the map, as it were. Metropolis. The 'Big Apple'. All
that bounteous harvest from the mid-west suddenly able to be transported to
the east, rather than having to go south. The extension of that waterway, an
astounding feat of engineering for its time, is perhaps the sole reason that
NYC, rather than New Orleans, became the pre-eminent administrative and
economic centre, and focal point, of the 'New World', isn't it? A coup
d'état, of sorts?

So the tugs and barges are "the dryads" of the new civilisation, the
mythological forest sprites (why not Naiads I wonder?) who nurture the
fruits, flowers and mortals of the land. The image certainly seems to augur
a somewhat materialistic pantheon imo. And the city itself -- a 'concrete
jungle' no less -- has overtly subsumed and replaced whatever there once was
of "forest" hereabouts.

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From: JBFRAME at aol.com

> A theme running through
> TRP's work is real or imagined discourse between animals & humans.  Benny
> apologizes to the alligator just before he blasts it with his shotgun.  This
> also reminded me of the Sioux & Cheyenne, how they asked the buffalo
> forgiveness before the hunt.

The parable of Fra Fairing and the rats reminds me a little of Orwell's
_Animal Farm_ in parts as well.

> No alter kocker he!

What is an "alter kocker"?

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Acronyms

FCC -- Federal Communications Commission

AF of L -- American Federation of Labor

BM3 USN (Pappy) -- Boatswain's Mate (3rd Class) U.S. Navy

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best