I’m walking north on Broadway in Manhattan, trying to imagine what seems impossible now: that this land was once wild, an island of swamps and forests that had to be navigated around and cut through. I can’t even begin to envision the natural landscape and features that once covered this island, but knowing that at some point there had been swamps and ponds here helps me make sense of the crook in the road that happens at 10th Street, when the street bends westward and begins the long diagonal slant…
