(Another photo from this "Baseball" series will appear here today, I am told)
The route of the 4th of July Road Race charts its way by my house. I wait. The first runners come by my window, shirtless men, all extremely lean, running fast. Ten. Fifteen. Then the next pack, the first women runners. I watch awhile as they come by, graded out by body fat. When the people begin to look like me, I become bored. I have run many 10K races, some half marathons, a marathon. I always looked like the middle of the pack. People like me bore me, I guess. Now come the rest. There are seemingly thousands of them. A constant stream of moving humanity. They talk, they laugh. Good for them. America on the Move. And now come the running obese. There is a woman running beside a walking man. And now, the walkers.
It is a big event time of year. World Cup. Tour de France. Festival of San Fermin and the Running of the Bulls. I must break free of whatever inertia grips me. It is not so much inertia as the other thing. I don't want to join the walkers. I'd rather be alone.
Still, they come. Tens of thousands, I guess. The flow is endless. Where have they all come from? They chatter and laugh now, glad simply to take part.
The last of them trickle by. They are done. The police remove the barricades and I am left alone. It is a recurring pattern, this. In a little while, I will get up from here and put on my shoes, and then I will go out for a run. Independence Day, 2010.
Happy Independence Day, CS! I hope your utterly alone run was what you needed. At least you're moving (notice again the 'at least' indicating lack of fulfillment)
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure that all this aloneness is good and healthy. I fear becoming Razkolnikov. But it feeds my photo themes of isolation, separation, despair, frailty, etc. All the fun stuff to read about and see. But for the grace of God, thinks the viewer, but for the creator, it is another thing.
ReplyDeleteAre you sure you'd rather be alone? The averring has a protest-too-much air about it. Maybe you'd rather be an artist, and the artistry would rather you be alone.
ReplyDeleteAre you sure you'd rather be alone? The averring has a protest-too-much air about it. Maybe you'd rather be an artist, and the artistry would rather you be alone.
ReplyDeleteTo this viewer it looks and sounds like paradise and what I crave more than anything...to go seclude myself and create in all the glory of isolation I can find...but indeed like Razkolnikov the duality of my personality and the realities of my responsibilities precludes total seclusion.
ReplyDeleteBureau, I think a lot of people want to be artists, but few want to live the life. They think they do when they see it in movies or read it in novels. It is like anything else. It's probably the same with people driven in any area.
ReplyDeleteR, Seclusion is good in clumps.
That's what I'm saying. You may not want to be alone, but you may need to be an artist, which may require a certain degree of loneliness.
ReplyDelete