If you want a trip

If you want a trip, step out onto the porch for a minute
or maybe take an evening walk.
If you’re ready, bite your lips and draw a deep hard breath of fresh autumn air.
Keep walking.

As you walk, the first thing you can notice is the magnificent crackling of the fall leaves under the heel of your boots as they waft up in curlicues around you
You can smell their tight odor loosen as it’s freed to the wind
seems to uncurl as it floats by the branches above, where the leaves remember their supple skin
that bends easily for the light.

But it’s dark now and the streetlamps are humming like a roll of film through a projector;
a young lady in an a-line skirt hastens around the corner after the arm of her suitor…

If you really want a hit, take off your shoes. Feel the cold iron sidewalk clang against the bones of your feet
for long enough (hopefully it’s snowed or rained) and then maybe you’ll begin to feel a faint- the faintest- glow of heat below
below the surface coming up from the centre of the earth.

Of course that’s not even the best part.
If you want a trip, stop focusing on the ground a few feet ahead
and look
Up.
You wouldn’t believe what’s up there, I scarcely believe it!
This step works in everyday settings, too
Every day
you can just swing your eyes up while you’re walking
And while it’s a long ways up, you’ll find it’s not a far fall back down,
just a gentle swoop
back down to your continuing footfalls and a smile at passers-by.

If you want a trip, better do it quickly. You’ve been around the block at least once now.
And better take a couple hits, because it won’t last.
Not like anything you’ll find here or
even underground.

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Featured image: ‘Walk‘ by Justine Fox