Blade and grass

About Blade and grass

There is a particular Saturday noon sound in Paterson: a mower somewhere down the block, a radio through an open window, somebody's kid on the stoop. Blade and grass adds to that sound week after week, cutting lawns, running the string trimmer along fences and hydrants, edging the walks and clearing the yard when the season turns. Down near the tight streets by People's Park the grass grows in odd shapes around porches and driveways, and the handwork is where a yard is won or lost. Cut low enough to look kept, high enough to hold through a dry July — that is the balance. Anyone can start a mower; finishing the corners is the craft.