There is a hidden population that comes out at night in Madison Square Park. It's not the homeless people, though they do seem to materialize on park benches in the time it takes to turn your head.
It's fireflies. Thousands of them. They bob up and down just a few feet above the lawn, so that the grass seems to sparkle intermittently.
Most passersby don't notice them as they rush through the park, listening to iPods or chatting on cellphones or shepherding children.
But the ones who happen to look sideways for more than a second see them and suddenly smile, and look around to see if anyone else has noticed.
Above: Yayoi Kusama (b. 1929, Matsumoto, Japan), Fireflies on the Water (2002), an installation I saw at the Whitney Museum's 2004 Biennial Exhibition.
1 comment:
wow, that a lot more fireflies than in madison square park.
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