Ross Gay mentions the corner of 9th and Christian, and a hospital on Broad Street. We can begin with 9th and Christian, because I personally find the location in that poem more significant the the location of the hospital on Broad Street, which is left unknown.

 

I am very familiar with certain areas of the city and fairly unfamiliar with others. Anything south of South street I am less familiar with, so all my information on 9th and Christian has been gathered from the internet and from my boyfriend (word of mouth is a legitimate way to get information about the city that is not shown on a map!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the corner of 9th and Christian, not too far from the Theatre of the Living Arts and South Street. This is where the fig tree grows, regardless of if it is native to that area or if it is wanted there. To the Fig Tree on 9th and Christian features a revitalization of the community, published in 2013. Google maps street view has photos available from 2014, which present a view hopefully not dramatically different than the one Gay wrote about before.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On 9th and Christian, the area appears to be classically Philadelphia, in the way that it is diverse. There is an Italian market and a pizza shop, showing the presence of Italian individuals in the area. On the other side of the street, there are a few different kinds of trees growing, though none of them are instantly recognizable as fig trees. There is an embroidery and silk screening shop, a trade that originated in Asia and was later introduced to Europe and the United States. This area is almost annoying difficult to summarize (annoying because it is my job to summarize it). The only thing that really can be asserted based on its location and these photos is its diversity. South Philadelphia is an area that many immigrants settled into during the Great Migration, and as a result, a diverse culture emerged. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The location of Ross Gay's To the Fig Tree on 9th and Christian goes along with my interpretation of the poem. In that poem, Gay is supporting the growth of immigrants in South Philadelphia, with the acceptance of a fig tree that typically grows elsewhere. The tree brings the community together, with different types of people coming together in pursuit of sweetness. South Philadelphia is the community in need of connecting with each other, and Gay asserts in his poem that embracing diversity is the way to do so. 

 

 

In his other poem, Two Bikers Embrace on Broad Street, the location is much murkier. There is no address provided, as we are told that the embrace occurs outside of a hospital on Broad Street. There are many hospitals on Broad Street.. It might be reasonable to think that it is a hospital in South Philadelphia, as Gay has already written about that area, but there is nothing specifically in the poem that indicates that location. 

 

The poem does mention that "Broad Street from Fairmount to the Parkway reeked of the honey-scented wind pushed from the hummingbirds now hovering above these two men". 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If that line is meant to show us where on Broad these men are, they would be somewhere along the line I have drawn here. The only hospital on that expanse of Broad is Hahnemann, up by Vine. It would be reasonable to assume that this is the hospital Gay mentions, though since it is not as explicitly presented a location as 9th and Christian in Gay's other poem, we might also assume it is less central to the meaning of the poem. 9th and Christian represented a diverse area of immigration and community. This expanse of Broad street is difficult to attribute meaning to. By Hahnemann Hospital, the look of the street is more like that of center city, with tall buildings, clean streets, and diverse businesses bringing diverse groups of people in and out of the area. Past Spring Garden towards the north, the streets get a little shabbier and the people less diverse. There is more trash on the ground, more small food shops. I could describe the differences block by block, as our reading about Germantown Avenue did, but again, the specific location does not seem central to the poem. It is more about compassion and love in a violent city, and though some areas are more violent than others, I do not think this particular expanse of Broad is the most violent or most in need of transformation as a result of these men embracing on Broad.