HELFWORKS

Real-Life Experience Just two taxis were at the curb when I emerged from Penn Station. One was empty with a wide open door. The driver had been... More

Pitch The pitch was long, loud, shrill, with a waver in the middle. A train is leaving the station and I can’t... More

Survival
Hospital pumps
measuring,
metering,
pipe vital minerals... More

Earth Day Window People love their native landscapes, generally. We grow up with a feeling of familiarity, history, comfort and appreciation for the place we are... More

Red Sky "Red sky at night, sailors delight." A rich orange, red, and magenta sunset animates the sky that recently presided dully... More

Three of Us
It's none of my business
what the hawk is up to
but when it announces its arrival... More

Pandemic on Ice This "northeaster" brought about ten inches of snow to NYC. That's really not very much. But when plowed, any... More

In Veneration of Trees In rural communities, once the newspaper accreditation has faded and the tinsel and all is carted away, do... More

Witness
In the dark of night
from somewhere unseen
comes wailing.... More

Way of Nature With a turkey baking in the oven, I've opened a window to air the kitchen. Abruptly, a hawk takes off on large wings... More

What Would John Lennon Say?
...There you stand with your L.A. tan And your New York walk and your New York talk... More

Another Year
The subway holds to the rails on the bridge,
passing over the river from shore to shore... More

Too Much Grief Every tragedy deserves due respect for its own particulars, but I want to lump a few together today... More

At Corlears Hook
The tethered dock groans in the upstream tide
and worry lines on the river form and re-form... More

Pandemic Dining Summer's here and the time is right for dining in the street. And the sidewalk. And the gutter... More

Part II: The Fall of East River Park The park with the largest green space for recreation and relaxation in Lower Manhattan is going to be bulldozed... More

East River Park, Part I: Before the Fall What makes a park the best? NYC has more than 1,700. Of about the dozen I know well, I can't pick a favorite... More

Facing the Truth We honor our dead by remembering them, and by saying their names in prayer and ceremony. In America, where police... More

Walls of Silence Could Crack For the first time in a turbulent four years, the country is boiling with pain. Out of George Floyd's... More

401 Years Helicopters hover in the sky day and night. 8pm curfew. Two hours before, the streets are quiet and subdued. But the atmosphere... More

Attack on the Commons A crime has been committed against small trees, as well as against the people and landscaped environment... More

Specialists In these months since the virus hit, we have all become our own little factories of self-preservation, specialists in home... More

Test of Character
This is a test of ability to judge character.... More

Attrition ...it's very clear that some New Yorkers have left the city. I read the argument in the Comments section of the New York Times... More

Renewal How is it that something young, fresh, and perfect emerges from an old tree? Bark is hanging loose on some of its branches, and... More

A Good Change Has Come ...to network news and comedy. Newscasters and comedians have abandoned studios and stages for corners of... More

7 P.M. The applause, cheers, whistles, and rapping of pots is a nightly ritual in my neighborhood, too... More

The Olden Days Crowds have always been a feature of New York City, for locals as well as for tourists... More

Sleeping Late Many visitors are in my home. Food's been served. In the tumult I forgot to freeze my... More

Dire Prophetic Warning
As seen: "Covfefe-19 Four More Years" ... More

Firing the WHO One man has used his power during a pandemic to stop U.S. contributions to the World Health Organization, at cost... More

Pandemic Playlist As Spring brushes the crabapple with its blush of red buds, the coronavirus spreads death, fear, and unprecedented destabilization across the globe. This... More