Thursday 25th August 2022

1pm

I start near Stoneypath Bridge

A nip in the air

A wee bit of wind

Gentle sun

Drifting clouds

Feeling tired today

So need to bend and

sway and circle and

ease

into my body

Stretching

Strengthening

Discovering

Waking up

Gently

Joyfully

Playfully

Softly

‘Till I’m [word missing]

and fluid

and strong

and responsive

Aware

Energised

Nourished

Strengthened

Stretching

Learning

Pulling

Squatting

Kneeling

Perching

Pushing

Learning towards

Leaning away from

Opening

Closing

Balancing

Jumping

Reaching

Lying

Curling

Breathing

Touching ground

Touching sky

Spiralling

Rolling

Smelling

Listening

Noticing

Feeling

The tow path

so narrow in parts

I can easily

straddle it

Measuring it

as measuring me

A sensate way of

knowing things

Like feeling the weather

And learning the wind

by being with it

wind on skin

weather in bones

And oh. The smell of

things

It is still wild here

But more domesticated

Tamed manicured

gardens on the

other side on the

waters edge

Washing hanging out

to dry

Domesticity signs

Remnants and layers

of human made

borders and boundaries

keeping out and

keeping in

keeping safe

and giving warnings

TRACES AND TIME

Fences and walls of

stone

wood

wire

concrete

metal

tarmac

grass

some smooth some wilder

and plants and flowers

Sprouting out

thickly

in abundance

TRACES OF TIME

I attempt to move

and fall

as slowly as the

drifting cloud

reflection on

the surface of the

water

Slow is such a

skill of nature

Passing time in a

different way

The canal makes

a triangle

and also a bridge

It’s narrow there

over the viaduct

above the Water

of Leith

Water above and

water below

The viaduct is soaring

and high

When I crossed it before

It was 22 of my

steps past the

railings between

each block of

stone

symmetry

This time of crossing

back it was 24

of my steps

Still symetrical

Still exact

In one way

But not in another

22 steps on the way

there became 24

steps on the way

back

No matter how

efficient and exact

we might stive

to be, there is

always variation

A kind of disorder

A disobedience

in both the body

and the land

NEXT ENCOUNTER:
Friday 26th August 2022

4pm

By the Footbridge, Allan Park Drive

one side

Craiglockhart Avenue

on the other