Elsewhere Participant Olga F.: Listening, Attuning

Below, Olga F., a participant in the Listening, Attuning summer symposium offers reflections on two different sessions.

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1. For Mar:

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having cycled, walked, pushed – uphill scurried – downhill, greeted the plants,

i sit

i sit with your reminder to breathe in the river, and i know: now there is not a day when I do not breathe in her and the ocean, for they are within the hand’s reach;

i know, down below, just a little further than the houses and the winding fox path, there are ripples on her surface;

i look up where the thick contoured clouds backlit by the sunset also sit, shifting ever so slightly – sky river;

they tempt me, and after a cycle, a walk, a hello and a distracting conversation, and

thanking the water that gently taps on my head in the small nook of a space that humans call a shower – she too was a river not long ago,

– they, the clouds that sit, have transformed into lush clouds of marshmallows on my plate,

and i breathe them in

[deep breath]

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2. For AMK

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the sky hails down; i mourn my losses, grateful for the feeling of warmth on my back like that of my grandfather’s hand, he pats gently – this touch is over three years old; a single tear itches on the surface of my skin recognising herself in the rain droplets on the other side of the window glass; the day continues;

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the nettles’ cheek! ouch

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movements >

human sitting down on the grass, cross legged

dog runs past

bat flying low

repeat

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