Famous Canadian Poet Wendy Morton read about Quiet Orinda’s campaign to restrict the use of debris blowers. Moved by her own experiences with blower pollution, and by her empathy for our situation, she penned this succinct, poignant poem for us. Wendy’s website, as well as her biography, will be posted in a separate Resources item, as well as on our Forum. Thank you Wendy, for this thoughtful, sensitive poem – Quiet Orinda.
Wendy’s poem:
ANGER
Listen. The streets are named
Dias Dorados, Linda Vista, El Sereño.
There are orchards of oak, sycamores.
And birds. Yes. They fly like memory.
Once, quiet and singing,
the moon like a song
over the blue canyons.
Until the leaf blowers.
Until the Stihl BR 600
at 95 decibels
and the toxic particulates.
Listen. Everywhere,
anger hanging in the trees.
Wendy Morton
My Neighbor’s gardener has the worst polluting gas blower ever. He used to stand for half an hour blowing all the dust through the gaps in the fence and
covered my side yard, house, windows – In through the open windows with dust.
After repeated discussions and requests for using a vacuum with both the gardener and my neighbor – no results. One day I was hosing it all off my windows
and they came by. I found that a circular wall of mist/water can block a lot of the dust and exhaust. But I’d have to be there every day. Finally, one
day, I turned the hose to stream and directed at the gardener, yeah I know sounds mean. But it’s just water, not toxic, not a pollutant, not dirty sooty or
cancer causing.
It actually took a few times beleive it or not and the gardener would swear at me but it was worth it.
NO More GAS LEAF Blower on the side yard next to my house.
So until they go all electric as noted above, we have a zone of Water vs. Exhaust & Dust between us.
I do recommend this tactic to many of the extreme Blower cases above.
They can complain to the City as well, or the courts but I think they would lose.