Pink PopcornTrees

AUTHOR NARRATION

Hear the poem.

Read by the author in the original English.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Find the blossoms.

Washington’s best-known cherry trees ring the Tidal Basin in Southwest D.C., just south of the National Mall and among the memorials to Thomas Jefferson, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Martin Luther King Jr. Washington is divided into four quadrants—Northwest, Northeast, Southwest, and Southeast—that radiate from the U.S. Capitol. The Tidal Basin sits in the comparatively small Southwest quadrant, where the Potomac, the Washington Channel, and the capital’s monumental core meet.

The National Park Service identifies the Tidal Basin as the place most closely associated with Washington’s cherry blossoms. The trees also continue along the Potomac and through East Potomac Park.Explore the National Park Service cherry-tree map.

PUBLIC-DOMAIN PHOTOGRAPHS

Washington in bloom.

A 360° view of the Tidal Basin, followed by three photographs from the Library of Congress’s Free to Use and Reuse collection.

Drag to turn · hover for pink popcorn

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Panoramic photograph: National Park Service. Illustrated blossom interpretation: AFKingPoetry.View the NPS 360° walk

Images presented by the Library of Congress in its Cherry Blossoms — Free to Use and Reuse collection.

THE L’ENFANT PLAN

Crooked roads, observe.

The city’s apparent crookedness is the visible residue of a highly ordered plan.

Commissioned by George Washington in 1791 to design the new capital, Pierre Charles L’Enfant laid broad diagonal avenues over a rectilinear street grid. Radiating from important sites and meeting at circles and public squares, the diagonals created grand vistas, shortened routes between principal places, and joined the Capitol and President’s House to the city’s larger design.

READER DISCUSSION

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