Feeling Poetic
Today I was back on the bike heading to the far east side of Lakewood. Coutant is right next to W. 117th, running from Detroit to Madison. When I came upon Franklin at the halfway point, I noticed that the bike lanes ended here. The sign made me think of the Shel Silverstein poem “Where the Sidewalk Ends.” The last four lines of that poem read:
Yes we’ll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And we’ll go where the chalk-white arrows go,
For the children, they mark, and the children, they know
The place where the sidewalk ends.
This challenge is making me feel like I am finding some of the magical places in Lakewood, as I walk “measured and slow” throughout the city. One of those such places was just ahead of me on Coutant. I came upon a majestic looking brick structure on the west side of the street. I researched it when I got home and discovered it is owned by the Lakewood Board of Education. I’m glad this structure is still standing and hope someday it might be able to serve a new purpose.
I was also overwhelmed with how quiet the street was, despite being only a block away from W. 117th. It was in this quiet time that I noticed a couple walking home from Aldi’s holding their groceries in one hand and their partners hand in the other. They too were walking measured and slow, enjoying this moment together on the first day of spring. It made me smile.
