ON FOOT

On foot beats driving every time ….

Those in cars might miss the sight

of tree roots and what they can do

to sidewalks - causing cracks and

pushing up bricks and cement ….

Walking on foot - one sees the poetry

of frozen footprints in snow and ice

as well as of dead leaves  lingering

in corners and under wooden porches

and dead cigarettes outside churches.

Walking strengthens legs and lungs -

and gives one a feel for variations

of wind - breeze - gusts - gales -

as well as chance meetings with

neighbors - the mail carrier and 

a baby smiling at us - as a mom

in sporty gear glides by us with a baby

carriage in front of her - and sometimes

we spot a perfectly good ballpoint pen

someone dropped on the sidewalk

and we end up using it for a year

and a half - - or we spot both halves

of a photograph of a couple -

ripped in two lying next

to a tough plastic garbage can.

What happened? Did roots

or the push of underneath stuff

erupt and disrupt their dream

of a picture perfect future?

On foot beats driving every time ….

Sidewalk stories  - a novel in

progress - the stuff we can read

as we walk on foot on snow, on ice,

as well as on the boxed cement or
red or yellow brick roads of life.

© Andy Costello, Reflections, 2014