We begin!
in autumn yellow wash
filtered sunshine
fire trail parking lot
in our beloved berkeley hills and their
“subsequent sculpturing of water”
without which none of us would be here
We begin
where so much has already
begun and always begins
how easy to feel
cold rhythms of history
high in the brown-green hill
the creek goes under earth
that we stand atop
distanced
as we walk across spongy astroturf
almost like moss
with pop music blaring
onto campus and we reunite again
through little inch culvert
textured tierra under my bare feet
singing songs in creek language in the dark tunnel together all harmonizing splashing sploshing
feet feel redwood needles pebbles sharp ouch smooth cool silty slime
IVY!
even on campus
where things have long been altered
one can still submerge
the creek gathers:
stuff tossed or drifted
farmers market
people from everywhere
colossal campus
colored houses with tended gardens of exotics
then we reach daylit creek again at sacramento street
Barbara lets us see
she’s grateful for the creek-speak-sound and for our creek-ly curiosity
we walk some more and then
all the creek and city and walk
pours out of the dark tunnel
stinky sulfur
into open space in time for
sunset
I sit and my feet buzz
Berkeley, walked
from hills to sea
“a day in the life of an urban creek”
we pause
all of us
in reverence to the full rising moon
in a deep lavender sky
me and steve and zen and jashvina and ariel and myles and eric and
the creek and the moon
we take the 51b back and
life carries on without a stitch.
Creek music http://vimeo.com/80123029
