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