20170114 (roof)

Take a few trees for a roof, but after that, how many?

Unspoiled wilderness? Not for long.

My guess is that once you get

Accustomed to the splendor,

Baser considerations enter

The equation. Leave the trees

Up around the edge and

Flatten the rectangle. Straight

Streets and avenues allow for

Tighter placement of the units.

Just don’t let the windows 

Look in from one place to 

The next. Backyards all the 

Same like the fronts with

A narrow gap between the 

Walk and the porch. Double

Garages should fence off the

Backs. Do what you can with

Paints, doors, gates. We can

Always number them if we 

Must. Buyers need a tree in

Front? They’ll have to buy

That themselves—cost way

Too much to reforest the

Place. It’s dollars per square

Foot, guys. Don’t let anybody

Tell you different. Low two

Hundreds at least for these.

Moving down the ever so 

Straight thoroughfare north 

From the shopping plazas

At the highway is another

Development with a similar

Formula. But here streets curve

Slightly, bigger houses, varied 

Fronts, larger yards, on a treeless

Plain, some undulation modifies

The surface, a three-tree deep wall

Of tall pines survives on the

Perimeter of Hoity Toity Gates—

From three twenty-five if you 

Have to ask. Further along 

Before the farms, deeper 

In the trees, customizable abodes

On curving streets with outsize

Boulders to define the plats, 

Capacious grounds where some 

Lucky few favored brats will

Play tennis next to a pool

Possibly, garages sedately

Hidden at the rear not to be

Known from the street, rooms

Above, and curtained windows

Like they’re bedrooms for 

Lexi and SUVs. Beginning 

Four-fifty. Five, if you want 

Sod and sculpted gardens. 

Why the extra e’s on Luxe 

Pointe are worth twenty-five

Alone. Discriminating, if you’ve

Got the funds. I hail from Hough,

Polska, Little Italy, and Shaker

Heights, and shouldn't be shocked. 

Builders did the same out

East long ago. Stratified us

By wages and salaries. Fenced

Us in ethnic enclaves. Here

Seems more diverse or I

Haven’t learned enough to

Spot the boundaries. My heart

Sinks though when I seee

Forests cut down. Can’t farm

Between the trunks. Can’t

Have lumber without chopping

A tree or two. When I pass an

Older farm estate where

Blanketed horses graze alone

In the mist on a large field I

Wonder if they know what

The waxing growl of motors, 

Once too distant to hear, means.

c. J.S.Manista, 2017