Urban Forest Time III

Another Moment

I started to feel cold a bit

    but not that much

    it’s just enough to feel I am here and now

in this damp, peaceful urban woodland

    I feel like I am alive again

creator of life

time feels different here

    I close my eyes and see with my other senses

has it been 20 minutes or 20 hours?

    I can only tell time by the slow progression

    of my feet getting colder

has it been 2 years or 2 decades?

    I can only tell by the other lives

    that are growing up around me

and then a gentle visitor passes through

the Forest remembers the land

    and its relationship to it

it remembers changes over time

    and movements

    in a language forgotten

    in a time before we learnt to lie

I don’t remember much

    but here, that doesn’t matter

the Forest remembers everything

I am going to miss Rain

    I will feel in my true self

    in Nature’s own abode

I am going to remember these four people

    who shared the rainy forest with me

life comes around

          goes around

Authors

A collaborative place-based story from Gateshead Riverside Park, crafted in place on Saturday 9 December 2023, between 11:00 and 13:00 GMT, by Chirag Chheda, Lotte Dijkstra, Isabel Mills, Ceren Senturk, Diji Solanke and the more-than-human beings and vibrant matterings present.

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HERE, NOW

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TIME FEELS DIFFERENT HERE

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THE FOREST REMEMBERS

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WHEN WE RETURN

• HERE, NOW • TIME FEELS DIFFERENT HERE • THE FOREST REMEMBERS • WHEN WE RETURN

For a moment, we allow ourselves to experience urban forest time. We investigate the more-than-human connections in and with Gateshead Riverside Park, using our bodies, personal stories, and collaborative place-based explorations. During and after each prompt, we record our responses. There are the stories we uncovered.

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