Like it the way it is, Max.
Andrew
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On 4 May 2016 at 12:33, Bill Wootton <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Maybe The Other Side could follow On the Right Day, Max. I like 'if that'
> addendum to 'you only live once'. Notion of lifting brain fog on a stroll
> is well explored.
>
> Bill
>
> On Wednesday, 4 May 2016, Max Richards <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> > Stepping Out and Back - Six Steps
> >
> > 1. Stir Crazy
> >
> > Just as I stepped out
> > the weather went bad -
> > should have turned back -
> >
> > hunched along to the
> > bus shelter while it
> > worsened. At least
> >
> > the bus came, direct
> > to Downtown without event.
> > You only live once - if that.
> >
> > Downtown! - wet ‘Easter
> > Sunday closed’ signs
> > made worse worst.
> >
> > Still, tourists at the Market
> > make each and every day
> > a bustling time, cellphones
> >
> > out for selfies, excuse me.
> > You live once only - if that.
> > Or is this yet another
> >
> > deja vu? standing here
> > grimacing out at the rain?
> > Same old stalls, same old
> >
> > spruikers, same old joke
> > pix showing wet Seattle
> > to please new tourists.
> >
> > Sure, the seafood’s fresh.
> > Rather here than cooped up
> > at home, wouldn’t you say?
> >
> > Dodge the Pike Street traffic
> > to the stop for the bus back.
> > You live only once - if that.
> >
> >
> > 2. Brain Fog Weather
> >
> > Stepping out again
> > taking my brain fog with me -
> > maybe it’ll lift along the way,
> >
> > maybe not. It’s brain fog
> > weather all along the street
> > round the corner up
> >
> > the hill along the ridge,
> > overhead, underfoot.
> > Try the park, always neat,
> >
> > somewhere to sit,
> > children to watch? -
> > get my bearings,
> >
> > register not weather
> > so much as season.
> > That toddler stands
> >
> > unstable but reaching
> > up, stretching forward.
> > Name those flowers -
> >
> > too hard. Now is
> > the springtime renewal
> > of my distemper.
> >
> > Last night’s gale culled
> > from this sycamore tree
> > tiny winged seed-pods
> >
> > like green bodiless
> > insects strewn park-wide
> > under our feet
> >
> > as if vainly to propagate
> > itself a millionfold
> > in the vicinity.
> >
> > Premature, surely.
> > Another million
> > maintain their grip
> >
> > on the old tree,
> > profligate tenacity.
> > Learn from this?
> >
> > Submit in patience.
> > Endure whatever
> > is the weather.
> >
> >
> > 3. On the Right Day
> >
> > Step out now uphill
> > towards the park -
> > unless the sky is dark,
> >
> > unless legs and will
> > falter. If you make it,
> > letting the keen dog lead,
> >
> > keeping the leash taut
> > up East Prospect Street,
> > the last steps, concrete
> >
> > and steep, release you
> > into wide green walks
> > along which another
> >
> > with off-leash dog
> > spontaneously talks
> > as if no stranger.
> >
> > Parks do this, pets
> > and children do this.
> > Anger, sensed danger,
> >
> > fade under these trees.
> > Sunshine, mild breeze
> > on the right day release
> >
> > walkers and companion
> > animals in free union,
> > give or take some tension
> >
> > between skittish
> > dogs with suspicions.
> > Squirrels flaunt silver fronds,
> >
> > joggers their bronzed youth.
> > Run free! or if you’re
> > old as me, amble more
> >
> > freely knowing from here
> > to home is downhill,
> > no pressure, so long
> >
> > as the sky stays clear.
> > Walking this easy way
> > should get us out another day.
> >
> >
> > 4. Vote Weed
> >
> > This morning’s still
> > brightening hill,
> > park, reservoir.
> >
> > Here once open-air
> > concerts would gather
> > happy crowds. High
> >
> > on music and whatever
> > they’d strip and dip
> > in municipal water.
> >
> > A strong tall fence
> > ensures that since
> > such high jinks
> >
> > no music fan
> > will ever again
> > dare dirty the drink
> >
> > or even drown.
> > Read the stern sign.
> > Today at the sound-shell
> >
> > musicians prepare
> > a midday concert
> > in loud support
> >
> > of marijuana.
> > A stout bearded guy
> > dressed as Green Santa
> >
> > trundles his wheelchair
> > and pit bull on stage.
> > Tables display weed-gear
> >
> > and propaganda:
> > Vote Weed this election year.
> > The band sounds Jamaican.
> >
> > Families are picnicking
> > on the slope, others sharing
> > reefer, hookah, bong.
> >
> > I smile, and move along.
> >
> >
> > 5. The Other Side
> >
> > Alex, sent us by Lyft, picks us up
> > to take us the short trip home.
> > Hearing my wife is here to study,
> > asks: studying what? Spirituality.
> >
> > What’s it about? How we find meaning
> > in our lives. He says he’s had the luck
> > already to visit the other side -
> > when twelve, playing rough with his friend
> >
> > in the pool, he'd drowned. While dead, he saw
> > the real world, but he returned to this,
> > much to his friend’s relief. The other side
> > is beyond time, peopled, where you choose
> >
> > the life you are born into, your life here,
> > after which you return. So he has
> > no fear of death. If there is a God,
> > He’s invisible but like the tree of all
> > and we are like leaves, here till we fall.
> >
> >
> > 6. By Night
> >
> > Stepping out each night,
> > last thing, as dogs require,
> > brings to their humans
> > repeats of before -
> >
> > without clear sight-lines,
> > with doubting footfalls.
> > Between street lamps
> > are dark dubious zones.
> >
> > Uneven pavement,
> > a hidden puddle,
> > a sudden slither
> > or slip, trip, tumble -
> >
> > these mean taking care -
> > these diminish
> > the relish of fresh air,
> > of high night sky
> >
> > with bright-lit airliners
> > plying between here
> > and Vancouver.
> > Also at this hour
> >
> > smokers ostracised
> > outdoors dawdle over
> > their day’s last fag drag.
> > We’re tolerant, dog
> >
> > and I, inhale their smoke,
> > stifling the joke
> > of pretending to choke.
> > To each their addiction.
> >
> > Our destination -
> > that unpredictable
> > halting-place, location -
> > dog of a sudden
> >
> > squats - the timely relief,
> > the slow or brief reprieve.
> > Otherwise, slow minutes
> > pass on a multi-block
> >
> > trudge - now? surely now?
> > postpone till tomorrow?
> > Are the stars clouding over
> > preparing a shower?
> >
> > Good good dog. The turn
> > towards home, duty done,
> > whichever way back is shortest,
> > our beds offer their best promise.
> >
> > Seattle, May 2016
>
--
Andrew
http://hispirits.blogspot.com/
Books available through Walleah Press
http://walleahpress.com.au
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