Foolish gibberish
I am really enjoying sketching my camera collection. Here is my Olympus OM1. I’ve dusted it off and have been playing with it this past weekend. Loaded with a roll of Cinestill 50 since it’s been really sunny out.
You can see more of my drawings over at Gotta Sketch That Itch.
I’ve been working with fear for the past couple months.
At the end of August I saw a Facebook post in my neighboorhood watch group that a mountain lion cub was spotted sleeping in the middle of the path of a popular trail that winds through town. The cub was seen at around noon on a Friday. Well. We all know what it means when a baby is spotted. It means a mom isn’t far away. I recalled how that very morning I did my usual Friday Morning 4 mile run along that very trail, right around day break (when they are most active). I probably ran right past it.
I am very afraid of mountain lions. And I have reason to fear. They actually attack humans. I recall at least two news stories when I lived in California where a runner and a bike rider were killed by mountain lions. So yeah. It’s a rational fear.
Yet It was bugging me because, while it is something could could possibly happen I was really letting it get to me. I wondered if it went from being rational to irrational. Yes, there have been attacks on humans, but what, really, were my chances of getting attacked?
I tried running on parts of the trail, but the fear of getting attacked was so great that I ruined the relaxing nature of the run. I had to finish it on the street. Each time I would go out I would try to talk myself into running on the trail, but when I got to the trail head and saw the sign I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.
Finally, one Friday,about three weeks later, I woke up and I wasn’t afraid anymore. I didn’t wake up with that dread of fear. I decided that this was the day I would run on the trail again. So I did. And it felt good. Oddly, all of the signs were taken down, so apparently the threat moved on.
It makes me wonder if that fear I was feeling was my gut telling me to avoid the trail. Maybe primal instinct was keeping me off the trail while the mountain lions (it turns out it was a mother and 2 cubs) made their home there. And then when they left, so did my fear.
You take me on roads I’ve never been on.
When I think I’m lost you guide me home.
Take me on tours of Paris, New York, and London;
I can tour Central Park when I’m home alone.
You lead me to food when I’m hungry,
And drink when I’m thirsty
You fuel my addiction
When I’m jonesing for coffee.
And when I’m on my next adventure
I know you’ll take me there.
Take me to places I’ve never been.
I’ll follow without a care.
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The Poetry 201 assignment was an Ode about a map using metaphor. For some reason I got it in my head to write an ode to Google Maps because I thought it would be funny. This is not the best poem I’ve ever written. But hey. I did it. 🙂 And It even rhymes .
You are the part of me that others see; the flawed façade that covers what is inside. I manipulate you into what I think you should be but you articulate my hidden stress. I sometimes don’t treat you well: the countless times you’ve blistered in the sun. when I sleep with makeup on, the way I gnaw at my cuticles when I feel withdrawn. But sometimes we take those we love for granted. And I love you, my dear skin. Because imagine what I would be without you? I would be horrifying; bleeding as I walk through the swell of humanity.
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Blatherskite 