Monday, October 21, 2013

notice things closely, and remember


Walk the boardwalk, circle the turret, pass the weeping willow
and the ducks and swans to the bench just beyond.
North Bay Park, Ypsilanti, Michigan (2013)

"And remember in noticing such landmarks that you may want to use your knowledge of them some day for telling some one else how to find his way, so you must notice them pretty closely so as to be able to describe them unmistakably and in their proper order. You must notice and remember every by-road and footpath.

Remembrance of these things will help you find your way by night or in fog 
when other people are losing themselves.


In a word, "keep cool, make yourself comfortable, 
leave a record of your travels, 
and help your friends to find you.""

When Lost in the Woods section 
Scouting for Girls: The Official Handbook of the Girls Scouts (circa 1920)

Parking lot
North Bay Park, Ypsilanti, Michigan (2013)




Saturday, October 19, 2013

proceed to the root


Sixteen hundred miles 
from here to there and back again
through six states
over a web of interstates and highways
two turnpikes, and steel bridges in yellow,
and back roads too
the ones not in the original plan
but the yield there, oh how very precious,
the pieces of a mystery clicking in to place
and I think "what if we hadn't taken that turn"
what a loss that would've been.

All the way, and particularly the closer we got to home
the robotic voice of the GPS admonished us
"proceed to the route"
each time we took a different way
but it echoed in my head as
"proceed to the root"

proceed to the route:
continue forward after an interruption or detour

proceed to the root:
return back to the essence and source of a thing

both ways
are truth

both ways
saw me home

and both ways 
brought me 
here.