Day 15

Sunday 28 August 2022

3pm

The edge of Harrison Park

by a tree

growing out from

the wall

Sunny

Warm

Gentle billows of

gorgeous wind

The canal ripples to

the East

Back to how it started for

me

Busy comings and goings

Larger groups of folks

sauntering

aling

Solo people too

Lots of friendly greetinfa

The man from the

Lochrin Belle

greets me like an

old friend

and waves “hello

how are you doing today”

There is music today

out of open windows

on the back of bikes

from cars on the

bridge

overhead

Inviting me to boogie

dance along the

towpath

It feels a buoyant day

Am missing the wild

thought of a few

miles back

and the quiet

and the peace

where time turns

differently

Try to walk at the

pace of a

barge

4 miles per hour

Feels tricky for the

human body

I’m either too fast

or too slow, and

finally wave it off

on its journey

Things are familiar

today

There is a sense of

returning and complete-

ness that excites me

A joy in touching and

smelling and seeing

and moving with

what is familiar

A re-membering of

what has gone before

Hesitate though

on the threshold

of the tarmac

turning into

the sleek iniform

pavement stone

the tyranny of

the sleek and flat

The wonders of a

place and its

invitations

The mess and the

makeshift over

the manicured

The un-regulated

and free over

The regulated

and programmed

The improvised

over the set

The gentle over

the gentile

Thank-you dear

old Union Canal

for changing time

and space and

thought and movement

and imagining beyond

the construct

that we are

taught to

know and live by

Move because it feels

good

Move because you

need to

Move because it

means you know

the sense of things

Move to find the

freedom in yourself

Move in ways you

never thought

Move to get to

love a place

Move anywhere and

everywhere

Be an opportunist

mover

and bring that

to a place

Move together

and move alone

A wee boy and his

dad join me on the

Leamington Lift Bridge

in a place that I

re-memeber from before

The wee body is angry

Because I’m in HIS

favourite spot on

the canal

I swap places with him

and he is okay then

Standing there

connecting

belonging

dancing

Places matter more

than we

can say

There are so many

secrets held

in the spaces and

places, arteries and

veins, heart

and soul of our

cities

[the Lady Boys of Bangkok

are living in caravans

just off the tow path

of the canal – thought

you’d like to know that

fact!]

I have a sense of

having arrived

somewhere

even though its

where I started

out

Moved and excited

to be “back”

But knowing I’ve only

begun

I make a plan to

end in the exact

same spot

I started in

two weeks ago

today

Only to find

myself displaced

by two folks

drinking Buckfast

looking West

we smile

I’ll leave you with

their words

“Life’s a sweetie

shop, man

It’s big

It’s all out there”

___

THANK – YOU