Walking Down Park

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1996

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Symbols & Motifs

“park, amsterdam, or columbus”

The poem opens with reference to “park / amsterdam / or columbus” (Lines 1-3), which are three iconic streets in New York City. NYC is significant as a hub of commerce and a densely populated multicultural area with Indigenous roots, where white European descendants paved over grass, rolling up all of nature “into a ball and call[ing] / it central park” (Lines 17-18). “[A]msterdam” (Line 2) is also a city in the Netherlands, and “[C]olumbus” (Line 3) is the name of the explorer who most people believe “discovered” the Americas. A “park” (Line 1) is something that human beings make by claiming the natural world and putting boundaries around it, designating it as a space for human use.

The speaker, by focusing on these three names in particular, draws attention to the history of colonization in the city—both the colonization of nature and the theft of land from its original inhabitants. This history intersects with the colonization and enslavement of Africans, and how enslavers brought them to the US to be used as “stock” (Line 12). Though colonization and slavery often go by different names these days, noting that the streets are still named after European cities and figures—especially controversial ones like Columbus—shows that the legacy of that colonization still dominates the social, political, and geographical landscape.

Fertilizer and its Meanings

Fertilizer has multiple connotations. Historically, fertilizer could contain animal and/or human waste, as well as other byproducts people avoid otherwise. When dogs and people “fertilize / the corners and side-walks” (Lines 21-22) in the poem, the speaker suggests two things: These dogs and their owners defecate on the corners and sidewalks, and they “grow” the sidewalks. The first meaning is a sign of disrespect. The speaker suggests the dogs and their owners are disrespecting nature, the city, and the society they live in by exposing human and animal waste to the public in such a way. It’s similar to lawn signs imploring dog owners to show respect by picking up their dog’s waste. The second meaning is that dogs and humans themselves grow and multiply, suggesting the act of living and owning fertilizes the earth and continually takes up more and more space.

Fertilizer is also useful in helping plants grow, and many contemporary fertilizers forego human and animal waste in favor of other organic compounds (like ground seashells), and/or a combination of synthetic materials. Biochemicals have their own warnings and ethical concerns, and some fertilizers still use byproducts like animal waste, but used correctly, these fertilizers make crops more abundant and the soil more fertile.

In Lines 23-27, the speaker addresses fertilizer’s positive attributes by describing how love can fertilize love in others. This is a stark contrast to the metaphor of fertilizer used in the previous lines. It may be a metaphor for the way that African Americans have traditionally been given “waste” or leftovers and yet successfully used these conditions to grow themselves and their community. The metaphor may be a call for a better kind of “fertilizer,” one that comes from love and loved ones. The speaker may also be suggesting that the African American community can take fertilizer and turn it into love for their children.

Grass, Elephant Ear, Parrots, Monkeys

In the last stanzas of the poem, the speaker posits a different kind of world, asking, “ever think what Harlem would be / like if our herbs and roots and elephant ears / grew” (Lines 52-54)? Harlem is historically an African American Burrough of New York. When the speaker says, “our herbs and roots and elephant ears” (Line 53), she means the plant life of Black people. The term “roots” in this case can mean both literal plants and the metaphorical roots of history.

There is also a subtle nod here that Giovanni may or may not have intended. The elephant ear plant is native to Southeast Asia, not Africa. Elephant ear plants are a species of Alocasia and Colocasia, which are genera of flowering plants native to tropical regions. There is a hybrid species of Alocasia with the common names of African mask plant and elephant ears because their leaves resemble ceremonial African masks and are unusually shaped.

The stanzas also mention animals. There are elephants, parrots, and monkeys native to Africa. What the speaker is suggesting, then, is a vision of Harlem that is not only reflective of Black culture, but one also reflective of Africa’s natural landscape. The speaker’s suggestion decolonizes on two levels: It envisions a part of the city run by African Americans but also free for use by African animals, and it undoes the effects of the history of humans dominating nature and Europeans dominating other peoples.