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