People

Books and computers, catalogues and orders, the return to work restarts the displaced patterns. Circulation and shelving, emails and requests, yet the greatest reassurance is the [people].  They remind us of what this is all about. Their stories and queries, personalities and voices, it is the people there in person who make it worthwhile. Vaccinated and unvaccinated, masks or no masks, whole new sets of regulations evolve out of two years of pandemic. People know how to behave, they go along with the pattern, likewise more interested in other people, and the literature, in this ‘post-pandemic’ period of the pandemic.

 

People (March)

[Sumi-e landscapes] An old person sweeps his porch in early morning light. Someone sits in their car in the car park texting endless messages. Two schoolchildren sit at a stop not talking, as above them tall trees start losing March leaves. A bicyclist’s having terrible trouble getting her helmet strap to click. Two dogs explore the tall grass while their owner keeps to the path. Solitary passenger in back carriage gazes out over warehouses and creek beds. Before vast sky and cityscape someone at an upstairs window turns on the computer. A couple kiss and part when the lights change.