walking away

I cut out a pair of tiny reflective Mylar sunglasses for the pink running girl in the image I captured while walking in the nearby wetlands. Running away or toward? Hair flowing behind. The flat, mini sunglasses are hard to hold, and my fingertips reflect in their surface as I work. Less than an inch across, requiring great scissors dexterity and care as I cut the curves to fit her face. My childhood paper-doll-making skills still hold true. Do the mirrored lenses protect her vision, or do they occlude? Can anyone see what she sees?

Walking away from my current privilege and the uncertainties of my partner’s fluctuating health into the ever-changing urban wilds nearby is a coping mechanism learned early on. I am drawn to interstitial spaces as a form of escape. There, unexplained infrastructure and clues left by others on the land offer connection and solace. The juxtaposition of unhoused encampments, raw sewage releases into the nearby brook, and unruly, invasive green growth in this increasingly expensive former sacrifice zone, now claimed by optimistic development, confounds.