I am sitting in the Woman’s Peace Garden, halfway between Footscray and Kensington, on my way to…
as I was approaching I will confess to musing on the peace symbol feeling a bit passe or gimmicky but today it looks like outstretched arms and, with the rosemary in bloom, feel more feminine. With it’s formal lines and landscaping, the muted greens of the olive trees and rosemary, this space hasn’t felt particularly feminine to me… maybe the idea of what “feminine” should be rather than capturing the spirit of the thing? Although I read that green (olives), and purple (rosemary) and white (roses) are colours of the Suffragette movement and these plants synonymous with peace. If I could create my own garden/park I’d want to create a sense of tranquility, I’d try and plant to block out the road noise/traffic, I’d plant things that smell nice and I like to be useful so the fruit trees and herbs are practical. I like to be connected with the earth so I’d rather dirt paths, with stepping stones or wood as needed, natural resources rather than concrete path… things running together and catching on one another rather than delineated spaces: sit here, walk here, plants there. I would plant so as to attract birds and bees and butterflies and ladybugs so when you look around you, you see life all around. Trees birds would nest in and children would climb in. This can feel like a pedestrian access-way, albeit the pretty way round, rather than a place you come to be. That is generally when healing happens, when you feel a sense of place, a place you can come to and just be. A place where stories can be told and truth heard and where you might imagine fairies and elves whisked away just before you arrived. I am not arriving. I am merely stopping along the way… and I go on, perhaps more peace-full than I imagined I might be.
itellyouarise 