Ok, this is not a haiku nor a poem. I hope you can forgive the deviation from my norm. Today I read a piece by Seattle writer Angela Garbes. It resonated deeply with me, so I wanted to share with you, my friends.
Published in the Seattle Met, “As Seattle Grew, I grew Up” mirrors my own experience. I, too, spent my ‘feral 20s’ wandering Capitol Hill, where I lived the better part of 10 years of my life. Seeking the urban as a cyclist seeking a car-free life, and the vibrancy I imagined coming with concrete. Years making mostly minimum wage, yet able to survive. Gentrification just starting to squeeze. I being able to rise up the wage rungs quickly enough to stay above the flood waters of economic calamity.
My revisits come filled with memories. Oh, “this was here”, and “that was there”. Then “what WAS here”? Memories combine with memory’s absence; strange feelings, ones that I’m not quite used to.
“Cities are meant to change”. Seattle’s changed, quite a bit. Driving home how time has passed, how much older I’ve become. Things I’m not quite ready to accept, so they keep rearing up. Such is the way of things I guess.
Well, I’ll finish with a haiku: it’s what my soul wants.
these old concrete walks
echoing my youth’s footsteps
urban memories
This is a time when we think about what was, what things we used to do. We may not ever do some things again or at least for a long time from now! But the streets that we presently walk, still need our participation even if we wear masks! I am thinking about making a smiley-face on a popsicle stick, to hold up so as to indicate to a person I am talking to, my friendly attention.
You could get one of these:
https://savedens.com/products/is4534600040551?variant=34033011392647&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=Bing%20PLA&utm_campaign=FC%20Catalog&utm_term=smiley%20face%20face%20mask&utm_content
Nice share Carl, thanks…