a thoughtful web.
Good ideas and conversation. No ads, no tracking.   Login or Take a Tour!
comment by lil
lil  ·  492 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Get Outside

Love to hear what you come up with.





user-inactivated  ·  492 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Noted as I wandered:

--

Summer has arrived.

Christmas tunes assault my ears.

Ours is an oppressive heat. I can see the asphalt waving.

Graduands fill the streets.

Bagpipes replace Christmas, the assault is intensified. But this time it's cultural.

The last vibrant breath before this city sleeps and bakes.

A holiday well and truly earned.

Construction sounds in the distance. The skyline adds new blood.

I'm tired, but the end is in sight.

I'm thirsty, but there is beer in my fridge.

Suddenly conscious of how I walk. Do I strut? Do I stroll? Do I care?

There! A delightful breeze in the nick of time. I'm turning my face to the sun.

I should do this more often. Face the sun? Yes. Drink it in.

I'm looking up underneath a tree. The leaves form a mazelike pattern set against the sky.

I'm finding my way through it. There's no rush.

When was the last time I didn't feel rushed?

It's almost 24°C. Stick a fork in me I'm fuckin' cooked.

--

I walked through the main street of town and wound up lying on the museum front lawn, nestled under an oak tree looking up at the sky. There was a gentle amount of commotion as people come and go. The last graduation of the year was held today - bagpipies and drums are a staple of the march through the city. Proud parents aplenty!

It was very nice.

thenewgreen  ·  492 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    there’s no rush

Enjoyed reading that. As I was reading your poem there was a nagging voice in my head saying, “you’ve got work to do. No time for poetry.” Then I got to that line and a stronger internal voice said, “there’s always time for poetry.”

Thanks for the journey.

user-inactivated  ·  491 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I'm glad it resonated! At the start of my walk I was trying to note things in the style of something resembling traditional poetry but it sort of just became a stream of words (hence the leaping around).

lil  ·  492 days ago  ·  link  ·  

great images -- the asphalt waving!

. . .through the maze

Where are you?

user-inactivated  ·  492 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Geographically = Dunedin, New Zealand. A small "University" town and the students have now finished for the year. December graduation being the swansong as the summer heat rolls in.

Mentally = I found myself trying to find a way through the maze of leaves just as a game. Then realized it was a rare moment where I didn't feel time pressure, like I normally do. It was nice to just sit and let my mind wander.

Thank you for the encouragement to step outside!

lil  ·  492 days ago  ·  link  ·  

It sounds fabulous. I could so use some 24 degrees C right now. I'm in Canada.

1) are you a student, just finished for the year? If yes, a student of what?

2) How did you become acquainted with hubski?

user-inactivated  ·  492 days ago  ·  link  ·  

My father spent some time in Vancouver, he likened it to our Queenstown albeit much larger! I'm very poorly travelled compared to him, unfortunately, I've only graced NZ and Australia. Canada is on an ever-expanding list though. Is it bitterly cold and snow-blasted??

1) Sadly my student days are done! I graduated from the same University in 2012, but I now work there. It's amazing to see the young people in their regalia, marching down the street. Every ceremony, the town comes to a halt to let them take the stage for the afternoon.

2) That's a tough one. I think it was around 2015, and I was trying to find something Kleinbl00 had posted in Reddit once upon a time. I forget what it was, but it resonated with me then, and I wanted to read over it. I searched what I could remember, and one of the hits was actually a link to Hubski. I checked it out, liked what I saw, and lurked forever more.

lil  ·  487 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    Is it bitterly cold and snow-blasted??

It depends very much on where you are -- although potentially everywhere can be bitterly cold and snow-blasted. Vancouver is milder.