walking sarpedon Walking Beyond the dirt and gravel entrance Stepping into the wooded preserve Concentrating on making each step last And further yourself to the ... You realize... You don't know where you are going. But you've been on the path before Or ... at least it looks familiar You know you'll wind up happier If you arrive at the kind of place You think you will arrive The grove is thick, however Every so often, you might Enjoy the relaxation of a clearing Or if you have the fortune: Cross paths with another adventurer Who tells her drawn-out tale You can't help but absorb and Feel the understanding well up Within yourself and start to overflow Oh, you've journeyed with a few In days, weeks, years long past But though you aren't really Exactly sure of the path Eventually you reach a junction And must diverge, peacefully or not After a few moments, The call in the wood becomes useless The trees drown out your voices And makes it difficult, Then impossible to hear You may tell yourself not to focus Upon the long, unimportant past But the feeling dwells, Propelled by that uncertainty That the distant path communicates What if paths no longer converge? Will I ever meet a like minded traveler? The junctions still come and go But it is their temporal nature That stuns and discourages Even if you may meet that traveler The timing may not be right You may be too early or too late And the bond will be unable to grow Or sustain a lively existence You cannot wait at a junction For it is not your call to make Life moves on, and your feet Will not cease their motion Walking is the cure for all that ails But the walking is paradoxically The source of sorrow and discouragement The paradigm of inevitability 020628 ... uow in the rain yesterday two men in two trucks hop in no it's okay thanks i'm not going anywhere today i'm just walking it's just raining i'm okay no it's okay thanks anyway have a good day thanks for stopping 040824 ... uow i want to walk everywhere 040915 ... mon uow i didn't walk this winter 050304 ... anomalous i don't do enough walking 050502 ... nom) i've been walking too_much 050921 ... nom on ice 051217 ... AfPRicochetMVP i think i'm gonna start walking to the track over winter break, then start jogging on the track, then walking back home. 051218 ... nom my transfer expired 070308 ... no reason i went walking tonight i wonder if they thought i knew where i was going 080217 ... past quick and insane thoughts, chances that might be lost, and moments between pauses, beating with a quivering heart and not being a gentleman in the end. can't really be blamed, a short walk, a good talk, all things considered. me being a little drunk and quite tired, her being just as tired, and both disappointed in powers that are quite literally beyond individual human control. i think we both lost tonight, threw our ballots to the wind like so many scattered maple leaves that we quietly tread upon as we walked each other home. funny how our only connections revolve around this election, now over and lost by all parties. the full moon didn't get us, and we left before the leaders had a chance to speak. at this point it doesn't really matter. the air was crisp against our faces, and that was real enough. at least for tonight. somehow the stars always seem to shine brighter here, or perhaps it's that i pay more attention to them, knowing the streets so well. the moon was full, hanging in the south. we showered ourselves in its glow. as we walked upon the fallen leaves. 081014 ... past quick and insane thoughts, and a walk in the cold. the street lights are more comforting, almost warmer, on winter nights than in the summer, or even the fall for that matter. we didn't talk all night, as is usually the case, but with the event drawing to a close we both stayed late, talking to our hosts, and left together for the short walk to our homes. we talked and smiled, seeing our laughter rise to the stars as it misted in the night air. i remember back to what another said, 'she's not what you need', and the shushed thoughts and theories i'd rather not explore (she is seeing someone, i'm convinced, but he's never out when i am as well, and i've not actually forced the question to confirmation). but, nonetheless, still, in the end it doesn't matter. it's that short walk, that happy walk, that always ends as if pulled, neither (or at least myself) wanting to stop the conversation, but we're pulled by different forces in different directions. i'd rather it continued and blossomed, but she has a different flower in mind. (a snow drop, breaking through the recent fall, reaching up to the stars, shivering alone. no, instead i'd rather turn and cross, watching her go another way, both turning and smiling and waving, 'see you soon', into the frosted night.) 081206 ... PeeT Over the years you end up learning all this shit you never would have thought. You learn from walking around. Thoreau wrote beautifully about walking. He used to walk four hours a day and often in the same place, because he thought you needed repeat viewings, especially in a forest, to have a real understanding of it. I find that to be especially true in a conifer forest. There are different seasonal things, weather things. Trees fall over, things shoot up, things die––a very dense city of processes going on. 120111 what's it to you? who go blather from