Tag: running

From The Human Mammal (2020)

The undutiful daughter/errant lover
is always running
she runs, and
is it the movement or the cadence or the stride that keeps her safe? 
You can meditate to your footfall, they tell her. 
Leave the tunes at home and 
listen to the sounds you make in the world. 

And-
trust is this, it’s the thud of her feet on the pavement. 
She’s never been a speed racer, preferring endurance races. 
Trust is being able to run at a moment’s notice- 
she has always judged women who wear high heeled shoes harshly. 
Always wear shoes that allow you to run at a moment’s notice.

Despite the lactic acid building in her calves, and her aching arches, 
she will keep running… 
Away from rather than running to?
Away from the relational goalposts that are always moving 
(at least the finish line is fixed in a marathon) 
the steps, the rules 
one step in front of the other-
The not good enough rules that she can never predict 

Eggshells: all those eggshells that she teeters upon-
At least.
At least when she is running, 
she is fifty percent airborne, 
it’s the closest to flying without being in a metal jet-fuelled box, 
and
 unlike all the accusations she cannot predict.
what she didn’t do right, what she did too much of, too much, not enough
	youdidit yesyoudid

Anger that hovers as fertiliser, 
the easiest type of bomb to make 
that’s why Bunnings won’t let you order online, 
no they won’t, not even during Covid.
You did it on purpose, you’re fucked in the head-

Just keep running.
When she runs, she sees anew, she sees the river, 
and with each footfall, the houses crumble at the foundations, 
the Moreton Bay figs disentangle their roots, 
and the mangroves rethread themselves, cleansing the river 
And she keeps running and she keep seeing,
where Pemulwuy fought those skinless devils, who harnessed fire for evil:
where the river fed the people like a mother, 
serving up feasts of shellfish amongst the old salt flat marshes and swamp oaks.

Just keep running, she tells herself, 
gravity is a game of flying and falling. 
Just run, when you run,
you’re free
to fall 
like a human mammal.