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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