Recurrent Traces

© Matthew Word Bain

water seeps through mortar and concrete
leaving traces of discoloration and precipitation
while ivy which once harvested sunlight on the vertical
and is now relegated (mostly) to the horizontal
has left a mark of the extent of its climb

this intersection of light and shadow
at the intersection of three planes
a fortuitous find for me
is as much a process
as it is a place

home to shadows
cast by a moving light
home to the flow of water
finding its own liquid way through
and home to the ivy, ever poised to climb

all the while it serves as a place to park
for the customers of a barber shop
a place to manage the process
not unlike that of the ivy
the eternal return