LETTERS: HOUSING SPRAWL PROMPTS A POEM

To the editor:

On June 12 you had an article extolling the virtues of urban sprawl, euphemistically called new subdivisions. At the time, it inspired me to wax poetic, but since I was busy and soon to leave town for a week, I failed to act. Then, Sam Blackwell wrong his lovely column about preserving neglected beauty, and I became re-inspired.

So, with apologies to Joyce Kilmer, I waxed as follows:

Ode to Urban Sprawl

I think that I shall never see

A subdivision pleasing me,

Where houses sprout in rows so clean

With garage and driveway foremost seen,

Where streets all curve and lead around

To greater roads of traffic sound.

No sidewalks there to jog or hike

Or push a stroller, ride a bike.

And trees -- let's not forget the tree.

I look around and all I see

Are just a few shrubs over here,

A little sapling over there.

Uneven, outward, the growing spreads.

Fighting, dying, the center sheds.

The name for that -- there's just one answer:

In man or town it's known as cancer.

JUDY CURETON

Cape Girardeau, Mo.