The Shores of Vanished Cities by Chipka
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Description
Once, there had been a tree-shadowed swamp: a nightmare tangle of shadows and mangrove shapes. There had been a scent in the air: wild plants and animal spoor and smoke from the chimney flaps of nomadic tents. There had been river-scent and lake-scent, where silt and dead things washed downstream and fanned through the delta and into open waters.
Loggers came. Planners came. They felled the trees and dried the swamp. The shadows vanished first, and then the plants. Treestumps were pulled from the earth like the roots of rotten teeth, and a city grew where—once—nomads fished or hunted small game. For two hundred years, the city stood: it dumped its wastes into the river and into the lake. It paved over the dried-out swam with concrete and asphalt. Vast and restless pumps kept the lake at bay—
—until the dark day came. On this day, the city was forced to account for what it had done. It was confronted with the question of its own existence. Did it have the right to survive?
The answer—perhaps spoken without words—was cruel and decisive.
No.
Once, there had been a city: a nightmare grid of towers and squat, sprawling tenements. Industry bled strange contaminants into the air, into the soil, and into the water. There were sulfur scents and the stink of iridescent chemicals pooling in gravel pits. Dead things clogged the river’s mouth, and fringed the lake, drawing flies in black, buzzing clouds.
The city is gone now. Its metal and concrete skeleton rots in silence—home to birds and small things once considered vermin. Strange plants grow in strange places and humans do not walk there. On the shores of the great lake—where the city erected vast, granite buttresses—algae grows where once, lovers carved their names and their declarations of eternal fealty. Nomads avoid the place, for fear of ghosts, and ghosts—if they exist—are quiet and secretive things.
* * *
The blocks of limestone in this shot are all that remain of Chicago’s famous (infamous?) rocks. There was a time when the entire Chicago-Rim of Lake Michigan slapped and lisped against those rocks. Now, only a few clumps and gaggles of them remain: for sentimental reasons, for reasons of historical preservation. The most interesting rocks are gone—probably discarded completely, or at home in the gardens of rich sentimentalists. Where rocks once protected the city’s shore, concrete has taken over. It is bland. It is sterile. It reflects sunlight in ways that render the lakeshore uncomfortable.
I saw these rocks as I wandered around with Corey. I’d discovered modal verbs at home a few streets away, and I was amazed that there were any rocks at all in the area. As I crouched and scrambled for as many good shots as I could get, I felt myself overcome by the feeling that I was documenting something of archeological importance. Corey and I were the only ones around. And for long, long moments, Chicago did not exist. It was as if some calamity had claimed all that Chicago had once been, and the rocks (so few of them) were the only ones with any clue as to what happened. It was an eerie feeling, and—in the most ironic of ways—rather funny. Human arrogance, after all, has a way of falling into obscurity and crumbling into dust.
As always, thank you for viewing, reading, and commenting, and I hope you’re all having a great week.
Comments (22)
flavia49
marvelous prose and photo!
bobrgallegos
Marvelous photo and story !!!
mgtcs
WOW...Chip what a wonderful image my friend, gorgeous shot and writing as usual, congratulations!
jac204
Effective capture and story.
auntietk
I expect if I could pan this image up, I would see the remains of ... oh ... the Hancock, perhaps ... frame broken, girders hanging, rusty and jagged. You've done a wonderful job of showing us more than you're showing us, my friend. Excellent work!
Orinoor
I've always been drawn to abandoned places, where the wild is creeping back in odd and unexpected ways. This is marvelous, I felt quite at home, both with your photo and description.
RodS
Superb capture, Chip, and even better narrative. Sad what we as a species have done to this planet... Your narrative brings to mind the "Life After People" series on History Channel, I think it was... Very thought provoking.
beachzz
Your story reminds me of "Earth Abides" for some reason. I've read that book so many times yet it's always relevant and thought provoking. We humans have done so much damage in such a short time, will the earth ever forgive us? Great foto and always, your story is great!!
whaleman
Mankind can be so arrogant, always seeking to control nature, But one day the Earth will 'burp' and we'll all be gone and harmony will return. We just won't see it.
bmac62
Historic Chicago rocks...now out of date. How can any rock become out of date:) Fascinating narrative! Makes me think... Some of these things do change for good. Picked up a book at the library today by the name of, Rediscovering A Lost River. Old dams in the Northwest are coming down returning rivers to their natural state. The salmon up here are cheering...can you hear them?
Bossie_Boots
Very thought provoking narrative and the capture itself speaks volumes !
Feliciti
i like your work and story !! :)
durleybeachbum
A BEAUTIFUL image. That water looks solid somehow.
fallen21
Excellent shot.
kgb224
Stunning capture my friend.
helanker
My goodness! your imagination is very well developed indeed LOL ! So are your writing skills. I could see it all in pictures, what you wrote. A wonderful capture for this amazing spinnings. :)
evinrude
Nice moody composition.
Meisiekind
I have so grossly neglected my friends on RR with work and life and challenges happening! Hopefully I will be back more regularly now! Love what you did here Chip and how you interpreted the image in your fascinating stories! Excellent work dear friend. Hugs!
MrsRatbag
Ooh, a post-apocalyptic sort of image...I rather like these glimpses into a future where life-as-we-know-it doesn't exist. Changes are good, they keep things interesting. Great image and reflections/story, Chip!
CoreyBlack
Nice one! This shot of the rocks is so evocative of an earlier period that I can almost smell that intensely aquatic aroma of algae and dead alewives that used to permeate the lakefront in summer. I was surprised to see that there actually WERE some of the old rocks strategically placed along "The Shelf." Looks like the City finally got around to honoring the promise they made 5 years ago to restore a portion of the old cruisey Belmont Rocks, albeit in much less convenient spot. I also see that they enforced the letter, but not the spirit of their plan in that the "rock garden" that was supposed to be a tribute to the long standing gay presence in the area has been scrubbed clean of all the original gay graffiti, thus negating the historical relevance the thing was supposed to have in the first place. I guess Tom Tunney was bought off by the Powers That Be. As Monty Python once said, "so much for pathos..." But I digress. This is a fantastic shot! And your writing is ,as always, first rate. I especially love the line,"Tree stumps were pulled from the earth like the roots of rotten teeth..." Brilliant!!
danapommet
Touching narrative Chip. Super photo and the color, of the slim, on the seaward sides, of the remaining boulders, is amazing. Dana
myrrhluz
As I read your story, I was reminded of "By the Waters of Babylon", by Stephen Vincent Benét. It was the first post-apocalyptic story I read. The scene is New York City, now known as the Place of the Gods and feared by all humans. I also got an image of time sped up, little human figures, like ants, scurrying and paving over everything. Followed by catastrophe and collapse, and plants breaking through the man made world, tearing it asunder, and reaching for the sun. Excellent story and image! I love the POV of the rocks, showing their irregular and haphazard size and arrangement. Much more interesting and beautiful than concrete.