American author, John Freeman wrote The Park, a collection of poetry, in 2020.
The park of the title is the Jardin du Luxembourg – the Luxembourg Garden in Paris. The poetry collection is all about the park in each of the four seasons. It is not only about the structure of the park, but it is also about people and their relationship with nature, and the culture of the park.
Freeman explores both the largeness of the park and the solitary walker within the park. He explores the design and its structured flower beds and lawns, not for touching or sitting on, and the scatterings of hundreds of iconic green chairs. He explores the vast open areas lined with trees. He explores people’s reactions to each other in the park and in Paris in general. He writes of the park’s locked gates in the evening.
Its themes are nature and beauty, with poems called ‘Birds’ ‘Spring’ ‘The Pool’ and ‘Crow’ as well as beyond to questions and thoughts about Parisian life, with poems such as ‘Ordering a Café in Paris,’ ‘Why Paris is Not the West,’ ‘Charity,’ and ‘Paris at Night.’
This poetry collection is both peaceful and though-provoking, like a walk in the park.
Photographer: Martina Nicolls
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