the creatures of NYC + omens with screenwriter, painter, & filmmaker Pamela Harris
ESSAY SEVENTEEN: "THE CREATURES OF NYC"
AFTERTHOUGHTS
"They show me things I need to know and don't," Pamela Harris, writer, painter, screenwriter, and playwright shared with me in our conversation about her significant encounters with animals living in New York City. In particular, Pamela shared the mix of horror and endurance she observed as flocks of rodents and cockroaches flooded lower Manhattan on 9/11. The creatures who were also trying to survive.
In embodying the voice of the creatures of the city, I thought it best not to. Perhaps the confluence of voices and sounds makes it difficult to articulate, or even that using absence can heighten attention to what is there. What is missed. What is gone.
A few weeks ago, I was working virtually from my grandmother's house at a desk overlooking her backyard, filled with the cycle of dying leaves from an ancient tree. It's easy to say something here about life cycles and the importance of embracing them, but I also find myself drawn to the binoculars. The idea of watching, and how our study changes the closer we get. How it is from a distant we realize our desire for closeness.
Walking through a park near my own home in lower Manhattan, I was struck--as in jolted to a stop, slowed down enough to observe--by a hawk in the middle of a locked up soccer field. I often admired the empty field and wished to be able to let my dog loose in the unoccupied green for he gets little chance to run in the city as he is afraid of other dogs, and I was feeling glad for the bird who had a way in.
As I watched the bird, it looked as though they were tearing apart a pillow, little white feathers decorating the field around the hawk. No blood, but it was in fact not a pillow, but a pigeon. The hawk was pulling off the bird's feathers, one by one. A crowd soon formed around the fence and we watched together in awe. Often uncomfortable with animal death, I felt this awe I described--not just a lazy word to describe us humans gawking, but it did feel as though we were witnessing something sacred. A manifestation come to be. Strength and caution on display before us.
from Pamela Harris's website, 2015, pastel, charcoal on paper, 30'' x 30''
Pamela, who has packaged a pilot with 20th Century Fox; she was selected for the Writers Lab; she directed and co-wrote a short film, ‘En Route,’ that screened at many festivals; and as a playwright is a happy member of Honor Roll and the Dramatists Guild. Pamela is also an artist and has exhibited extensively. She’s currently wrapping up a memoir, How I Learned to Swear, described her own encounters with hawks, pigeons, doves, and other creatures in New York City and throughout her life.
"We can learn from them and they can learn from us," shares Pamela. "We're just another species on this planet."
Listen to the full episode of "The creatures of New York City with Pamela Harris" here!
READING LIST: LISTENING FOR THE HEART
What is the distinction between listening "to your heart" and "for the heart"? Right now I've been going through some familiar photo-books: Mother Earth: Through the Eyes of Women Photographers and Writers and Robert Frank's The Americans. I think our hearts may guide us but it is only when we listen for the heart do we know.
I'm thinking in particular of one writer in Mother Earth, Dorothy Richards, who says: "Having no scientific training I have had to rely on common sense and perception and faithful daily observation. These have led me to disagree with those who believe that the intelligence of animals is proportional to the size of the brain, and to distrust much else of what I have read. The new science of ethology--'scientific study of animal behavior and formation of characteristics'--offers hope for the future. But only if it is pursued with love for the subject of study. There can be no understanding without love."
My zine Love, which I wrote this spring, was selected to be published with the New York Public Library's literary magazine for their sixth issue "Lost/Found." There will be a virtual launch event on 12/1 at 4 PM EST with more details to be soon posted here.
If you want to own a copy of your own, I have a few options.
I have single digital copies available on my website for $2 or if you'd like one of the lucky seven remaining handmade copies, you can Venmo or PayPal me $5 with your address and I'll ship one out to you ASAP :).