1 August 2024

 

Torrens Weir to Port Road, Adelaide (3.4 kms)

 

I turned over to August in my “Unlikely Destinations” calendar to find “House on fire”— homes carved into a sandstone cliff in Mule Canyon, Utah. The stone looks like flames, but petrified.

So I set a score for today’s walk:

#Score for walking

– see the movement in nature

– take a photo

– do a dance to capture its kinetics

 

 

 

#1     

Side curve left, reaching,

fall into lunge, pivot into forward curve

spin arch

fingers dripping

 

(pup tent hiding the homeless by the river bank;

conversation with a magpie;

‘Green 3’ receipt hangs in tree)

 

#2     

Thread my feet under the root

fingers hover over the tree leaves’ shadow

with my left hand I let this tendril take my weight

and letting go a small cloud of dust is the root’s hello

 

(tunnel under the railway, I sing notes, someone on a seat further on hears me)

 

#3     

Shadow arms circle

circumnavigating head and torso

fingers clasp an orb

fluttering down to earth

and a coiling grapevine to find mushroom caps

announcing themselves through the grass

 

(the collie turns its head to look at me;

passing Mum’s last bridge crossing;

follow the Bunyip Trail, possible links to Dinosaurs;

‘Breathing In’ track by Shaman’s Dream)

 

#4     

Debris

footfall swivel

fingers sweep reveal layers

small nuts under leaves

twig attaches to me and I wave it around my head

like incense in puja

then skewer my torso to hear the wood snap

 

(kookaburra call, then I see two sitting above me, now quiet)

 

#5     

Whirling reaching

a wind pirouetting

an emu settling before running

forked fingers jab the sky sending green transmissions

a silent yell

no one can see me here

 

(I scared a duck which flew/ran across the water and I said “Oh!”)

 

#6     

I stood near the rock, resisted stepping out onto it

lifted my head and let the sun fall on my face

eyes closed, I played my hands

in front of my face

then lowered my head

opened my eyes and saw the sun reflected in the water

 

(dragonfly)