ACID AMBLING:
I WALK AND I WALK AND I WALK
M T SMITH
THE JARG COLLECTIVE PRESS
TJCP002
‘ ACID AMBLING, M T SMITH, AN INTRODUCTION BY JEFF YOUNG
Beauty as an aberration in the most uncertain of times. M T Smith, Acid Walker navigates the PTSD damaged city, the canal towpath wanderer sending missives and bulletins from the zone. Shattered illusions viewed through the orange glare of a Lucozade bottle; finding transcendence beneath the yellow moon; almost becoming Heron – THE BOOTLE HERON! – in his restless urgency to see the world anew. There are Cormorants and Oystercatchers here – Kestrel, Cocodamol, CLASS WAR, shipping containers, cop sirens – and the sudden, exhilarating flash of the Kingfisher as he holds his daughter’s hand, watching in awe. Seeing. Seeing the world. It’s not easy. It’s ugly. It’s beautiful. He puts his neck on the line, over and over again. The Bard of Bootle, stepping lightly in a world where souls are for sale and he’s having none of it. Fight for a better world.
‘We are human, after all.’’
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RECYCLED PAPER VERSION TBA
THE BOOTLE HERON (MAY WELL HAVE)
SAVED MY LIFE
Water pummelled with shite pumped out from the
neighbouring industrial sites. Rusting shopping trolleys.
Empty Lucozade bottles swamping reeds. Underemployed
dredgers. Excitable newcomers. No matter.Â
Resilient. Still. Unperturbed. Stoic. Undeterred. Aware.
Alert. Hopeful.Â
I am calm. Temporarily. The music of the Coots, the
Ducks, the Canada Geese. Even the gulls. An organic score.
Pure. Another canal-walker stops. He tells me that a
previous Heron used to follow him on his bike-rides. One
time with a rat in its mouth. He says he was never sure if it
was real. But he is sure now. I mention resilience. Then
beauty as an aberration. All things considered. He agrees.
Then walks off happily. I wonder whether I’ve just
experienced part of my future. A bit like The Anubis Gates
by Tim Powers. I don’t know. It is weird – in the original
sense of the word – but energising too.
A life measured by (walking) the canal. The Bootle Heron.
An (almost) ever-present in the most uncertain of times.Â
I would visit you every day. If I could.