I am supposed to be reading
The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot, by Robert Macfarlane, to review it for
Books & Culture.
So of course I've only gotten as far as chapter one, and instead of continuing to read, I began walking every morning.
Macfarlane's journey began in winter, and he claims you can't go anywhere without walking. I am already in disagreement. You might know why.
It's okay. He could be right, in his way. It doesn't change the fact that
I went somewhere without going anywhere. Two things can be right. This is something I had great fun exploring in
The Novelist.
Anyway. I began walking every morning, and whereas Macfarlane quotes Emerson, "the ground is all memoranda and signatures," I am noticing that the ground is a cradle for love.
And I, like some kind of wandering mother, have the chance to embrace what the ground is holding out to me, if I want.
One morning, the ground gave me an ivory-coated terrier. This little dog would not move until I came to greet him. I held his face between my hands and looked directly into his melty brown eyes. "I see you," I said to this tiny creature named Tiger. "I am so glad you are saying hello to me."
Another morning, the ground gave me a brown-haired girl, skipping her way to the school bus. She raised an eraser to her nose and sniffed hard. "I love the smell of this eraser!" she shouted to the wind. "I love this eraser!" I gathered her words.
This morning, it was two old men. Jamaican, I think, if I heard their deep, throaty sing-song correctly. "You gonna buy this house?" one of them asked me when I walked by. "Oh, just stretching near the driveway," I replied. "Great house, isn't it?" I added. And he nodded
yes and turned back to his friend.
Macfarlane is right about walking. It takes you somewhere.
In my case, I feel like I am mother-walking to love.
_____
On, In and Around Mondays (which partly means you can post any day and still add a link) is an invitation to write from where you are. Tell us what is on, in, around (over, under, near, by...) you. Feel free to write any which way... compose a tight poem or just ramble for a few paragraphs. But we should feel a sense of place. Would you like to try? Write something 'in place' and add your link below.
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This post is also shared with Laura Boggess, for...
Labels: in, On, On in and Around Mondays, Robert Macfarlane, The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot, Viking publishers
