Along the Fence
Unforced Movement
Moving without trying to improve anything.
I headed out today
a bit excited.
Today was supposed to be the day
that the first trail head was open.
But as I first got started,
I already had a “sticker”
of some sort in my sock.
In my youth,
I would have left it there
to keep things moving.
I may have complained about it
on the way,
but I wouldn’t have stopped
to take it out
because it wasn’t that bad.
But this time,
I stopped,
and removed it.
Was that maturity,
or has my ability to withstand
even the slightest irritation
at zero?
I saw the trail head.
It was not open.
Workers
busily still working.
Dirt movers
moving dirt still.
I couldn’t remember
if he said
we will be done this weekend
or
we should be done this weekend.
I didn’t immediately think
“No fair,”
as I typically would
in before years.
Instead I thought
about the surprising spring snow,
and that may have been it.
Again,
is that progress,
or exhaustion
to being disappointed
that changed my thinking?
I decided to stay
on this side of the street
and go down the path
next to the large ditch.
One dog barked at me,
but stopped when I said,
“Hi, it’s okay,”
and watched me cross by
her fence
of her yard.
I went down the path,
crossed the street
to the same path
by the ditch.
I looped around
and came back up
the other side.
I noticed a backyard
with all fake grass,
green turf.
The sheds
and rock beds
were all immaculate.
The next backyard
was barely recognizable
as a backyard.
It was overgrown,
weedy,
dead in places,
much like the ditch
and trail were.
The third house
actually had natural,
still trying to get green grass,
with a patch
of fake green turf
near the fence.
I felt like Goldilocks
judging these backyards,
but with no way of knowing
which one was “just right.”
I then thought
it didn’t matter,
because as so far planned,
I will never have to worry
about a backyard.
Then,
as I got closer to home,
I noticed a large
barb wired fence
all along the path.
It had the same sign on it
as I kept walking.
“NO TRESPASSING.
EMERGENCY CALL…”
and it wasn’t 911.
It was some random number.
I was so curious
about it all
that I didn’t realize
for a bit,
there was no longer
a path.
I was walking
on a very steep incline
that drops down
to the deep ditch.
Large, tall,
full of stickers
and hidden holes
in the ground.
I grew fearful
and felt trapped.
The same dog barked
from the other side.
The other side
where there was a trail.
She kept barking.
It wasn’t a stay away bark.
It was almost like,
“Come play,
you won’t get anywhere
going that way.”
I stopped.
Should I traverse back
to the street,
and then
to the other side
of the trail,
or keep going.
I kept going.
This time
I left multiple stickers
in my socks
just to get out.
I had to stay focused
to keep my balance
and not step in a hole.
All of a sudden
I was at a familiar street
where the water plant is.
That was what I walked behind.
I felt relieved
and accomplished
at the same time.
I went home.
