November 1 Detail of gathered materials

Epic Walk Diaries (November 1)

metallic blue berries metallic blue metallic blue
like planes so many planes so many boats
heard so many cars
there was dust
there were the waves too the lapping of water
sometimes we couldn’t see the boat it was a crescendo of
metallic sounds

remember the music notation for silence?
it wasn’t there
but sometimes almost there

didn’t you love that there were so many fences
and as many holes as fences?
we were always at an almost-dead end
then a new portal
so good

caught once
(but to be fair many came before us)
we slip past the perplexed matriarch
“we’re not wandering in, we’re wandering off!”

hardened flyäsh
it’s condemned he said
it would move the needle but as it was
it only said 13480 lbs
with some flickers
but really 13 or so tons
this is the coolest parking spot in vancouver
so many shapes and the potential of flyäsh
and and and
an ecosystem fed by the fraser

we heard the sound of hell fire low deep resonant menacing constant
it’s behind a door there are no windows
how do we know it’s not hell in there?
we have no contrary evidence
except the flyäsh guy
he says its a blower
you know for those big ass cement pipes you see lying around
oh ya I guess they’d need some blowing

a playground of shapes
like kindergarten but rusty not soft not small
ratty curtains of orange and blue
a lot of land doing not so much toil not so much work
piles of sand and products of sand
sometimes more emptiness
but on a fresh surface

what a weird little spot we found ourselves in

an outside living room
a box of test tubes with industrial plastic wrap
a survival kit war field surgery guide wilderness survival
water filtration he was ready for everything
except
maybe his own self
a woman would use a backpack
you know…you need both arms
for survival
he’s a survival commuter

a little frisson
probably we’re not supposed to be here
the whole time
we’ll apologize
it helps we’re women

brambles are the original colonizers
creeping across the concrete
far criss crosses
such an interesting deadlive zone this is
we find a colonial talking stick
hard and definite
it never stops talking

we happen on two eagles
they happen onto crows that feel their own mortality
attack screech eagle feather floating down
once more a path opens and we think
maybe this feather is for us
no I think
it will bless this forgotten road instead

—-
[
Start 1:22pm
End 4:37pm
Fraser Park to educational panels,
through trails and down to beaches once in a while,
through holes in fences and makeshift homes and living rooms,
many steps on forbidden territories including a cement factory (garden?)
it kicks us out swiftly,
we walk through the garden of cement shapes,
past a condemned fly ash dispenser,
under a tressle bridge and abandoned structures,
under the yellow oak street bridge,
through a mossy green pebbly beach,
up an embankment to a business park,
and finally to a park at the end of Shaughnessy Rd
(with sand volleyball courts)
back through the railroad tracks (on flyäsh advice)
down Kent (crossing the beginning of the arbutus greenway)
back to Fraser park and Lola.
]

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September 2 Detail of gathered materials

Epic Walk Diaries (September 2)

fruity prequel
   apples pears and guests

[ there is nothing like an apple right off the tree ]

    brambly webs of striped predators
 to fenced greens and rocky shores
    later for this final reckoning of riches

quel 
   to the wrong riches
  not quel
 schloss is our gain
   a veiled secret to an entrance
     [why us?]
  glad to escape the colonial 
      mud says more

monoculture park
   an invitation to trespass
 ganesh welcomes this begin
     [ remover of obstacles! ]
   sacred care
      ruby before stones

low tide
   [ can a river have low tide? ]
 grasses muddy to a martha stewart hue
    show the waves of time
      hide chasms of mud
      [ only the feet know ]
   
  a hinted salamander
   small like a mouse
     scurries like a squirrel

sprinkles of violet [asters]
   yellow 
     white (joined by pink juniors this time)
  magenta strands of invasion
    the old browns standing tall
       rosehips (the colonial kind)
   hawthorn reds
       deadly ones too

you take the low road
     [ the logs captured enslaved corpses ]
   i take the high road
        [ hugging brambles ]
  feasting on unseen blackberries
           watching the shore one
     on muddy ganesh-approved tracks

merging for the stony feast
      brambles finally give
    we have earned this resolve
[ how many before we pay later? ]

rock steps of uncertain balance
   a dance with slippery partners
     [ how would the japanese do this? ]
  grace to the finish

surer returning steps
    a fall bouquet forming
      [ you look timeless
               with this wild beauty in your hands]

-----
[
  Start 1:30
  End 4:00
  False start at McCleery Golf Course,
  to the schloss at the Marine Drive Golf Club,
  given permission for early morning with a hint
  to an easier way, to the Fraser River Park full
  of hawthorns, past a NO TRESPASSING sign,
  past a Hindu shrine on the river shore,
  scramble through flattened grasses, logs, rocks,
  mud, wild flowers, brambles, to the edge of McCleery,
  and back, past the shrine now joined by sunbather,
  blocked by a sunstroked seashore-cleaning kayaker,
  and to Lola (and water).
]
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July 23 Detail of gathered materials

Epic Walk Diaries (July 23)

        permission to enter
   thank you for asking
          a past-teenage pass
      fields of chicory
         purply bright bitters

   river boat smell crows feasting
       on pungent impermanence

a true path
   a mud bypass
 beside a more river
at ease

      pump station
  prompts chaotic strategies
    inhibiting bacteria
      doubles us back
  to musqueam academy

 permission to enter
    yes 
      some may not be as nice
 beware of the fore

        Amigo greets us
          at La Finca
     zucchini blessings for all
   sleeping pumpkins
         waiting for halloween
    fore ball     pumpkin wow
  two hundred orange pounds
          not Portlandian

     figs roses sunflowers
         (not smiley yellow)
            mourning Gilbert
     Gilbert with the new apple tree
       
          smiles on imperfect grass
     river path edible sweetness
       Bauer bench
           a note to return

 a road to helpful extraordinary lips
        directed lively
   
   shaded limpid creek
 leaning queen anne
    thistles push pull poke
       guarding a soft finish

         fruity amble
          passed white history
      winched   embarrassing riches
             river cops
      doubly taken land

    ripe bounty
        chalky jade
     anne bourne moments
   groomed wildness
      village permeability
 inaccessible secure wealth
         wild boundaries
   generous contradictions

   damson plum finish

----
[
  Start 10:10
  End 2:20
  Musqueam Cultural Rotunda,
  to the river, cul-de-sac, back to Lola,
  to the Musqueam golf and learning academy,
  on Groomed Paths by the water, up to 51st ave,
  back down to the water, more Groomed Paths,
  along country club, past Deering Island, 
  Groomed (Fruity) Paths,
  Mccleery Golf Course, picnic under plum tree, 
  clean finish at Carnarvon St and Celtic Ave.
]
2
April 21 Detail of Materials

Epic Walk Diaries (April 21)

circumvent the upper class
   kin yet rejected
  not prepaid
      private you know

musqueam welcome
     he said river
  walking good
    a dog rides cheerful
 meander to laughter
      family

tidal flats
   pretend easy
 bones say otherwise
      dispersed vertebrae
   skull     memories of eyes
     spineful finale

stick to the grass!
   mud traps and chasms
  oil underlay
 rivulets    at some scale
     rivules really
  follow the line serpentine
       algorithmic life art merger

reed waves
    rise and drape
   hide and house
  red winged black birds
     check check
 bushtits pootiweet
  do we only hear alarm calls?

human detritus
   photogenic barrels and balls
      easter gloves
 reed mud life asserts
    life wins
      patient

stoic sentinel field
  ritual ancestors
    stand orderly
  skeletal
      siren song
   mud bounce

 d e t o u r

chasm labyrinth 
   go left!
 stick to the grass
   leap!
    part the typha forest
  log highways
     positively running now

surprise opening
  listening oasis
 layers of song

greenery boundary
  contrasting relief
 honest map check
    grit to origin

taunting brambles
 brambles mud
   brambles branches
  brambles reeds
    brambles roses
  cedar saviors
      water bombs

coloured goals
   pull
 sorrel  irises
    yellow  white  pink
  just unwrapped green
      horsetail forests
    nettles
   awake awake awake

up the creek
  cedar root path
   fern handles
 red berry finish
     i hope you laugh

--
[
  Start 1:15pm
  End 6:05pm
  Avoid the colonial greens,
  to Musqueam cultural rotunda,
  meet the dog, witness the egg hunt,
  down to the river flats.
  around and around up and down backwards
  leaping slipping sinking
  scrambling brambling
  backward tracking to the creek
  remembered climb back to colonial greens.
  Encounter on private land, you know.
  road to Lola with unexpected forest walk.
]
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Feb 25 details of materials

Epic Walk Diaries (February 25)

unscrambled trail
   local sun muse
       stay away
        the edge the ground
     may give way
     
giving in
  sliding to low tide
   the city out of the girl
       out of bounds
        boundless
  bounding soft
     into moss
         turkey tail!
       under trees
 picking through snags
  snapping twigs
       the path

seeing double
   wondering still
   what is not seen
       undisturbed
      unpicked
   unknown

cauliflower mushroom ears
  corals of many generations
    soft
       colonized green
   between land and sea

eagle down feathers
   a good omen or
       death
     soft silvery
       bundles

       steps away
          a duck head
       dappled by the sun
   mistaken for a flower

musical snakes
   ancient ribbed hollows
     polyester original
  pull tok! pop a cork
    scouring rush

parting the bullrushes
    into waves of bleached ecru
  vectors of tides gone-by
      rogue log paths
          an invitation to fall
    unexpected freedom
 joyful anarchy
   bodies holding 

pull up your crazy pants
   round the point
     go up the delta
        oh Freud
 you missed half the fun

crumbling the rust cigars
   exposing soft nests
        snow
     seeds into wind

quiet irregular thumps
    woodworking
  human like
     chips fall from above
 perky upright redhead
   eating nesting 
      beautiful winged flight
  apologies 

oasis surprise
   lawn   log     tree
     perfect for a picnic
 untouched

boundary creek
   parallel tree crossings
 musqueam now
    forward and up
      breathless
   green groomed
        white

------
[
  Start 12:30pm
  End 4:46pm
  Still existing mushroom marker to
  soothsayer, pass Lola again,
  back to mushroom
  scramble down to trail
  obstinately remain despite every kind of obstacle
  side road to bullrushes, logjams
  meandering onto the trail and back to shore
  crossing into Musqueam land
  scrambling up to Shaughnessy Golf Course
  onto the greens, jumping the fence
  onto Marine Drive, back to Forbidden road
  and Lola.
]
0
Epic Walk Jan 20

Epic Walk Diaries (January 20)

       no shoulder check
no head either
     the scanner is an alto now
  it will not have a post-humanist future
because it can't scan itself

 who gets on the post-humanist ark?
only the snowflakes
      because they don't resist
     the ark needs flexing
  geraniums barely made it

white berries call
   in soprano
               we resist
      you are post-human enough
 algorithmically infinite

a formal man
      sitting
      inviting not inviting
   a simple lack of complexity
        simplisticated

here mom can you pick this up?
   the crushed beer cans whimper
  burnt
        no need to look
        they will find you
  the labour of having you
    so valuable
      suddenly
      temporarily

tugboats pull 
  loving the strain
      bragging of old tech
  and log drivers
  herding lost trees
    mysteriously organic
      pre-humanists

off trail complexity
 soil as snow
  attention honed 
     a funny dance
        with the brambles
        ferns roots logs
        natural boost 
    bounce
    to dark velvety curves
       of cloudy chocolate 
 mushroom 

jaguar
jaguar
jaguar
where are you going
meeting
on the forbidden road

sanctioned trail
next time

-----
[
  Start 2:10pm
  End 4:30pm
  Forbidden road to trail 7
  down forbidden stairs
  along the almost delta shore
  amongst the logs, reeds, and tugboats
  up the off road on hands and knees
  to the mushroom marker
  forbidden road
  farther from lola
  at least three jaguars further
]
0

Epic Walk Diaries (January 6)

rovers range
in the land
  of range rovers
   tailgates
   how we morally suffer
     and laugh

delta seeking
  not quite there
    not yet
   we walk on role playing
      trails
  walking as mother
   as canadian not canadian
 loner

a hollowed trunk
  tunnels to fresh Starbucks
 car tire support
    surprise to one
  detail to another

miniature forests
  of primitive intruders
    horsetails
 primitive
   needs re-valuation

logs wounded
 colours of blood and fire
  the storm disrupted
    for us
    you need mostability
 "don't take the lower trail"
  we do
   treasures of lichen bullrushes
     tiny brown mushrooms
       mother lode
     skeletons of summer

? what is that ?
   an urban translucent orange
    slimed
      chewed gummy bear
  fungalien

buds on sideway trees
  mushroom forests
    a mostability of life
 everywhere

this time
  yes to geraniums

exit through disobedience
  water falls
    sounds to remove noise
   fractioned into our phones

 ---
[
  Start 2:11pm
  End 4:20pm
  Fraser lot to trail 6
  Wreck beach expanse with log jam
  through storm disrupted lands
  lower forbidden trails
  lots of mud
  to designated smoking area
  treasures of washed in sand
  perfect for sand castles
  through obstacle courses
  makeshift bridges
  to trail 7 and gushing waterfall
  up forbidden stairs
  onto forbidden road
  back to Lola (and 49th)
]
0
Details of gathering

Epic Walk Diaries (November 28)

oh shit it's pooop
  you thought it would be
   pure
   delight
   special
   seashell, long and twisted
nope
poop

many things presenting
 as solid
   are not
    others shimmer
  surreal 

i want to stick out
  my tongue
   at everybody
 today   as a totem

two lively eagles
 don't mind

a generous soul
  feeds graceful hunger
  a threat of ending
brings a swarm of need
    he ducks
      throws up
 his last crumbs

blackberry flower
 pertinacious
   memories of summer
  sheltering a hopping bird

wandering onto slipperiness
  our luck will run out
 back to the bed of leaves

double bubble pink
  pot pop pop pot
 so pink
   urban pop up

a natural stake
   pointed
  we speak of death
 small and big
    shocks
   pieces and parts
 a claw
   a body
  a mollusk
    a shoe
        nothing is lost
 it sure seems so

waves
 rest
   in soothing suprise
   sitting
   sitting
   pondering
   unexplained
   distant yellow
   no need to explain
   sit

------
[
  Start 3:07pm
  End 4:52pm
  Nod at the monument, thoughts
  of campus police, onward to MOA,
  to the backyard looking for the way back
  to the end point, thwarted by mansion,
  back to the totems sticking out many tongues,
  new stairs to wreck beach, trail 4 for small people,
  along the beach, round the point,
  to the breakwater and log jam, trail 6 up the stairs,
  along marine drive, back to MOA and Lola.
]
0
gathered materials

Epic Walk Diaries (November 18)

monochrome golden
  determination
delightfully interruped
     by
 sari orange
pink orange
 red or turmeric
   yes but shimmery

it's like a two-shelled
  berry
    the inner berry is
     ummm orange
 sari orange

the sweetness of mom

 frost! November
muck
  so satisfying
   imagine being barefoot

listen look
    a calling bird
  brambles
   silence    we wait
   leaves quiver
 weaving as hopping
  as small as a finch

we want order
  no chaos
 no, chaos
   chaos!!!!

fear
  the ultimate investigation?
 or one like any other
   which tunnel to go down
 do all tunnels lead to...
  no head?

layers of white
  fireweed forests
 curled by gravity
    hooked by brambles
     so much stuff
  that can be grabbed onto
 don't worry. they love you.

the absence spoken
 of skeleton leaves
   tissue-like   materialized
  the magic of attention

defiant yellow
  untriggered!
    brilliant life burst
   in brown entropy
 a tertiary display

the rest of canada hates us

----------
[
  Start 2:30pm
  End 4:30pm
  Pacific Spirit lot, back to Acadia beach,
  up Marine, back to the lot,
  past the sunlighted streams,
  a close brush with wreck beach,
  up to the burrowing grove,
  zig zag through trees, cliffs, brambles
  back down burrowing grove,
  and the lot.
  hello lola.
]
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