Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Fryman Canyon

In the middle of Los Angeles all the winged monkeys exercise

A steady line of people parking their cars as close as they can to the mouth of the hike

And grimly climbing.

 One woman cuts a huge psychic swath
as she drags her body and life up the incline

“............. IFF I feel GOOD I can!................................But what is me feeling good?”

Behind her doctors, perpetrators,
useless remedies
 and her nanny from when she was 6
hold tight to her shoulders and leave a trough of haze in the energy

The fragrance and damp from the green

Curry plant, salvia, pepper tree

 sweat , sweet

 like they’ve been struggling  with gravity too

But they endure with grace

Two women whose faces have frozen in self disgust go down as I go up

“.....flirtation and of course she ‘s  too young”

On her back sit her no prize of a husband,

a house thats too big and to someone else’s standards

and an indifferent teenager

complaining of being on a hike that’s not of

 His choosing.

She struggles under the weight of it all

But soldiers on-

dragging pretty young girls

whose attention is elsewhere

on long ropes

behind her





                                                               

14 comments:

  1. Having a rough week?, Ms V (or do you know someone whose going through this?). Its a bit of an Andalucian dog's life you're describing here

    (Not that i can't recognise the feelings myself)

    With regards

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  2. no its the snippets of conversation I overhear hiking the hills here- I only wish for them to drop their daily burdens and be present in the moment- there's so much you miss staying wound up tight in your own little world.

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  3. It's a different world then when I was raised, looking at beautiful West Texas sunsets and the only voices I would hear in the night were the crickets and coyotes howling, Very peaceful.

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  4. Nana, do you like hiking holiday?

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  5. I'm lucky - i can be as deaf as a post when i'm out riding

    You see the young children who recognise a kindred spirit (bikes are childrens' dreams-cars belong to the distant, dangerous realm of being grown up) & the young man in the hoon-mobile who signalled me because he could see a truck he thought i couldn't; but i rarely hear the bitchin' i'm sure also takes place

    Ignorance may be dangerous but it can also truly be bliss

    With regards

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  6. Lenka- I do ! I'm dreaming of doing a hiking holiday soon

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  7. I just had a friend leave today to hike the Appalachian Trail- or at least part of it... it sounds like fun but I think it's a little early in the year weather wise.

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  8. I agree with being in the moment. It's so often that people come out to the park (I have a state park right outside my house) and bring all their baggage with them. They don't tend to leave it behind when they leave the park either, which means it sits and other people sense it when they come.

    I would love to show people what the park and the forest look like with TRULY open eyes. I think a lot of people would wig right out.

    I see it that way all the time.

    Glad you're blogging again, Nana, I've missed it :)

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  9. May I suggest the bibblum Track in West Australia as a suitable hiking track?

    Not just a great walk, all 1,000 k's of it, but also a relaxing culture to go along with it.

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  10. I find hiking a spiritual experience. No matter what burdens I take with me, they are easily shed in the work of the moment, the joyous embrace of sun and sky, of huffing and puffing up a mountain trail. I've been on hikes in the Canadian Rockies where I found myself so absorbed in the scenery and my own body's work I forgot what it was I was escaping. And that's as it should be.

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  11. Here`s the ultimate hike Nana!
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmDhRvvs5Xw

    But please don`t fall off! - i did twice just watching it! x

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