online: 8 july 2015
modified: 7 july 2015, 1 august

6 july 2015 in long grass


...in long grass surrounding playing fields... beyond are large trees surrounding more fields... and then more trees comprising the city forest... and possibly the same pair of terns or gulls who were flying and gliding over the mown grass a day or two ago...

...suddenly one descends onto the ground... the other flies low to investigate... and then climbs to treetop height and disappears...

...now a dozen or two smaller birds (are they starlings?) fly overhead in a direction chosen (i suppose?) by one or two of them... (or do they all somehow share control in a way we cannot quite imagine?)...

...and suddenly there is an unshaved poodle passing close to my feet... and i hear its keeper striding quickly along the gravel path behind me...


...i walk a little further... perhaps a kilometre...


...sitting out of the wind in a natural bower... looking at blue sky criss-crossed by streaks of pink-blue cloud... the light begins to fade... a blackbird investigates the grass before me... a few people remain with dogs or footballs... i suppose i enjoy the predictability of all this... that and the quiet... and even the sounds of slow-moving suburban cars nearby... and trains in the distance...

...the blackbird is still here... jumping and running short distances... the air is still... some leaves are moving only a few millimetres... others not at all... a vapour trail appears as if rising vertically... but as it gradually moves overhead perspective changes... and apparent vertical motion appears to become horizontal...


...to me this resembles a painting... but it's not a flat surface... in which we appear to be contained... in our own perceptions...




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