Eric Lach on how paddling in the Gowanus Canal, in Brooklyn, has inspired Brad Vogel to write poetry about toxic sludge, floating condoms, and gentrification.
The Gowanus Canal was completed in 1869. The neighborhood surrounding it, which shares its name , developed a reputation for griminess. It was home to oil refineries, gas plants, factories, dives, and working-class families. But, since the turn of the century, Gowanus has been changing, along with the rest of Brooklyn, if a bit slower. In 2016, a twelve-story luxury apartment building called 365 Bond opened along the banks of the canal.
Vogel took out a copy of his book and read from a poem titled “Out in the Styx”: And our sins Bury bodies Across from Whole Foods Crushing my bow now Canal, millpond, creek Coal tar gasified leak In Vogel’s mind, the Gowanus Interregnum began with the unveiling of 365 Bond, his first residence in the neighborhood, where one-bedroom apartments now rent for more than four thousand dollars a month.
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