Cedar Creek – the park, the trees, the green lawns

Developed a full century ago

But before that – what was it?

Nothing? Barren?

Untouched, natural, beautiful, pure nature

That we felt entitled to exploit,

Develop,

Destroy,

For our own gains,

Our desire to get out of the city and into fresh air.

Recreation is no new phenomenon,

But it is a problem.

We use nature negligently.

Everywhere within the city limits of Allentown

Is within two blocks of a park.

But are those parks healthy?

Are we using them for our own health

To clear our minds

Breathe fresh air

Be away from it all

While trampling the very thing we love?

A century ago, untouched forest

Today, a public park exploited and redeveloped constantly

For its own betterment, of course

We know better than mother nature,

Right?

Allentown, a city with plenty of green space,

Two thousand acres of parks,

Thirty-five miles of trails,

Boastable for a city of this size.

Parks, oases, escapes from the tall grey and tan constraints

More green space, more recreational parks, more nature,

More and more and more.

To what end?

Warm childhood memories…

Eyes stinging with chlorine,

Laughing, splashing, cannonballing into the pool,

The ear-splitting whistle of the lifeguard,

Tightness of sunburnt skin,

Playing games in the park with friends,

Barreling down slides,

Swinging across monkey bars,

Racing from one end of the park to another,

Flying off swings,

Scraping knees on asphalt,

Walking home,

Happy, exhausted, content.

The innocence of loving something to death.

An unhealthy, impossible fantasy

“To him who seeks something more,

Recreation has become

A self-destructive process of seeking,

But never quite finding,

A major frustration of mechanized society.”

To enjoy the land, the parks, the precious green space,

We possess, invade, appropriate.

We destroy to create

Community pools, walking trails, basketball courts,

Skate parks, playgrounds, rose gardens,

Local recreational attractions.

Will it ever be enough?

Public outcry when these are not available,

We demand access and immediate fixes to public nature

How ironic.

The city spends a measly million or two annually

To fix the parks.

They are never good enough.

A petty crime, a constant state of dissatisfaction.

Do we spend more money on nature, or let it be?

By a city that is so obsessed with green space

That we cannot keep our hands off it.

Exploit and neglect.

Use what you can while you can.

The parks will always be there,

Will they?

Is it natural to construct nature in this way?

Overcoming obstacles

Progress, connect, stabilize

Vicious cycle of flooding

Cedar Creek pinched by the bridge

Unable to flow naturally

And instead exploding.

We restructured nature for our own gains

And it backfired.

Failed.

Flooded.

Swamped.

Years-long project to change what we had created and destroyed

Under the misconception that we were making nature more beautiful.

Remove the bridge,

Fix our mistakes,

But there is no way to fix the damage to our environment.

All other flood routes have been destroyed, beautified,

No longer can they serve their purpose.

When will the next flood drown the park?

Is it too late?

How much fixing can be done before nature is no longer natural?

West end of Allentown,

Quickly developing

Far from the center of the city

But close enough

To need an escape.

Recreation, valuable in proportion

To the intensity of its experiences,

To the degree to which it differs from

And contrasts with

A life of work, industry, activity.

Cedar Creek Parkway,

The ideal retreat for city dwellers.

One hundred ten acres

Of carefully curated,

Meticulously created,

Perfectly concocted

Nature – in its most unnatural state,

At the mercy of our recreational desires.

Roos graduated from Muhlenberg College with Bachelor’s degrees in both Media & Communication and Psychology. Growing up in the Pocono Mountains, Hailey developed a love for the outdoors. At Muhlenberg, she sought out the opportunity to create interdisciplinary work in both of her fields of study. When she is not writing about how the human species has caused a rapid demise of the planet, she enjoys hiking, reading horror novels, and binge watching Netflix.