Lost Ground
![]() from the plasticine-like mud that captures our tread so scrupulously to the mud that covers our trousers and boots They walk through the woods and agree how difficult it is to know what’s happening on the ground. from being told on tv how people are fleeing their homes to thousands of pinpricks of rain on a windscreen being wiped away They briefly speak about the marches. from a nunatak being seen as a symbol of hope - poking through an ice sheet - to too much being seen and the sea engulfing tropical outposts “Too many have already lost their jobs”, one says. from thinking about how wet the washing would have been to knowing that you could not have felt this satisfied if it had not rained Both agree there'll be new ways of working. from the groynes running down the beach into the sea to roots, like fingers, stretching across a slippery hillside woodland path ‘You’re only as good as the last job you do,’ one exclaims. from a summer tree to the frost hanging on around the shadows of a tree’s branches suggesting its leafier self They now just want to go to work and get involved and get things done. from the crowd pushing across the road to the few who continue when the lights have just turned red They know their problems aren’t as bad as those in other parts of the world from trees crowding round to mourn their fallen friends to a copse surrounded by a ploughed-up field or those their grandparents had known. from not being able to hear what’s being said in the cars that are all around you but can barely be seen to knowing that there’ll be talk of how little can be seen They agree that they are not responsible for what their ancestors did or did not do.
Tristan Moss |