We are often invited to think of London's parks as the lungs of the city, its breathing spaces. Their function has never just been entirely corporeal though; they are equally the places in which the city has done its thinking. Every time I walk down Highgate Hill, on my way to work, past the little, missable, floor-level plaque that announces the now demolished cottage of poet Andrew Marvell, I'm reminded, looking down on the skyline from his vantage point, of his indelible aspiration: "annihilating all that's made, to a green thought, in a green shade".
That desire has long been a Londoner's statement of intent. It might also serve as an introduction to Sarah Pickstone's beautifully crafted book, Park Notes. Pickstone is a painter, but it was words that set her green thoughts in motion. In October 2009 she was, she recalls, "sitting on a plastic bag on the damp grass of Regent's Park Inner Circle, coffee in one hand, pencil in the other trying to draw the sun". After a while, she gave up, put her pencil behind her ear and began to read a pamphlet she had just bought, which contained a story by Ali Smith, called The Definite Article.
Continue reading...