A few weeks ago I was wandering around in the CBD of Sydney, in Martin Place to be precise. It’s a popular square with loads of tourists,  shoppers, coffee drinkers, and lunching folks.

It’s also a drawcard for both buskers and for street photographers. For me, it’s mainly a short cut from one street to anoher, though I must say, I’ve very often stopped to make a photo or two of the grand architecture, fountain, and the great light that seems to permeate the place.

Anyway, on this occasion as I walked about slowly, I heard a busker. Not a singer, more a spoken word poet type performer. I guess if I were to categorise him, I’d have to say he was a Rapper.

And to put it mildly, his poetry was a amazing; I had to stop and watch and listen for a while. I realised quickly that what he was doing was focusing on a particular passerby and would then make some (mostly humourous) ryhmes about that person. Things like:

Here comes a dude with groovy green shoes.
Not having a pair like them is givin’ me the blues.

or:

Now I see a fella with a phone stuck on his ear.
Come on buddy, why not let us all hear?

Now, I confess that these are my own made-up examples. I wish I’d noted some of the real ones, but I was too busy listening!

It’s easy to tell right away that I’m not what you would call a “natural rhymer”, if there is even such a thing.

But what turns this into a true synchronicity for me is that for a few years now I’ve had a recurring dream in which I’m simply walking along making up superb rhymes as I go. It’s one of those dreams you’re never sure are ‘real’ or simply a dream.

In any case, when I saw and heard this guy that day, it got me remembering the dream and how I’d often thought I would really love to actually be able to do that exact same thing.

Not about people though. I used to photograph people in the street; all kinds of people.  I still consider photography among the most important of my contemplative and creative practices, just these days I don’t photograph people.

So, in a round about way, I’ve made a little “poem” that refers to what I do photograph, inspired by this encounter as well as particular photo I came across just yesterday but made months ago now.

Please enjoy

Strollin’ down the street
I lift my camera to my eye,
no longer interested in the people walking by.
Nowadays I tend to notice their many and varied traces left behind,
or perhaps (and even better) a golden leaf in the gutter I might find.

Thank you for reading this small attempt. Now here’s the photo I mentioned that inspired this attempt at a kind of spontaneous rhyme.