WALKING INTO THE LIVING ROOM, AFTER CHANGING
FROM SUNDAY’S CLOTHES, I SAY TO KAREN,
(WALK BUT NEVER LEAVE HOME),
REGARDING MY PILGRIMAGE TO COMPOSTELA: KAREN,
Yes? she says.
I’m on my last 48 miles.
She looks at me again. Lots of signs to walk around,
I say. I’ve been walking the Development Route since January.
452 miles. Lots of Stop signs to walk walk around.
Walk the short block during television commercials. Nine minutes.
Four-tenths of a mile. Walk to the Stop sign
when cookies are in the oven. She says to me,
My friend is on a cruise. She got to swim with dolphins.
That will shorten the lives of dolphins I say.
Nothing personal about your friend on Facebook.
Camino de Santiago. How did I get here.
One day returning from the morning mile walk,
low sun enables one to see tiny blades of grass
breaking through soil. Work one tiny thing at a time.
Front porch room. Sweep dead leaves in Cairn Park,
dig up seedling Rose of Sharon trees for Xander
and an Autumn Pine for neighbor down the street,
Earth Day will be here next week. And
The Japanese Garden by Sophie Walker
from Inter-library Loan with a surprising
4-week lending period. Time for absorption.
Who would have guessed this walk.
A housing development in Yakima.
Northern Spain. Sahugún was the half-way point
weeks ago, seems like. No middle middle
as they say in baseball.
Santo Santiago—Saint James. A fisherman.
When Jesus came to the Sea of Galilee,
he was fishing with his father and John.
They weren’t having any luck when Jesus said
dip those nets in the water again.
Santiago witnessed the Transfiguration of Jesus.
Did you know that?
Saint James now. He spread the Gospel
He crises-crossed Israel and the Roman Empire.
Spread the word for forty years in Spain.
A monument on the Camino de Santiago
near the Spanish city of Sahagún
marks the geographical halfway point.
Café Bar El Trasgu, one of the best stops
for the caminantes on the Camino.
Located in the center of downtown Sahugún,
better than the Bar Luna down the street.
At this point, the pilgrims have walked 250 miles.
Los peregrinos. Caminantes.
Son cansados. They’re tired. Some are cranky.
Pinche this, pinche that.
Peregrinos mi culo. Son de la cocina.
Some have given up and flown home.
After the discovery of the relics.
St. James opening the 9th century
Plenary indulgence could be earned,
complete in every respect.
Caminantes somos
y en el camino andamos.
Caballero Andante just south of us.
Legend holds that St James’s remains
were carried by boat to Jerusalem to northern Spain
where he was buried, now
the city of Santiago de Compostela.
Saint James and all that preaching in Spain.
Returned to Judaea after seeing a vision of the Virgin Mary
on the bank of the Ebro River.
El Camino de Santiago—also called
The Milky Way
formed from dust raised by traveling pilgrims.
And now these last 48 miles.
Yakima and the short block. Four tenths
of a mile. I said that. The stop signs.
Los ultimos kilometros. Mas en kilomitros.
Another week. Seven days. What country am I in?
I’ll be sitting in the pew during Pilgrim’s Mass.
La Catedral de Campostela
I can’t wait to lay my hands on that pillar
inside the doorway to the cathedral.
But today, still a couple of miles,
a few things. Prepare the garden for May Day.
Wheel that tree to the neighbor.
I suppose I’ll walk a mile at Costco
en el trafico terrible—a dentro Costco no?
Las mujeres manejando sus caritos de la compra.
Shopping carts and John the Baptist.
The Baptist calling for repentance
and all this walking aisles inside Costco.
There’s been a cost to this walk.
And on this walk—I’ll be in Composite
in a week—no one arrives. I’ve learned that
walking. Others know, too. If we understood
that from the beginning, well, you know
where this is going. But it’s beautiful.
It’s nothing if it’s not beautiful. I’ve got some things
to put away before I quit for the day.
The rake and pruners. Shovel and gloves.
Those two pails I used digging up the trees.
Jim Bodeen
February, March,-24 April 2024
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