A love letter to wild pedagogies in Greece (draft 3)

Dear Epirus,

You are refuge
Blue tarp bridging sky and storm
Suspended between valley and peak
Shelter from learning outcomes
Space for grounded dreams

I write to you beneath the stars
An electronic notebook attracting insects on night flights
So much to notice
So little time to see

Hide and seek behind a tree
I embrace a pine, waiting for the seeker
She kissed me back
Sticky hickey along the back of my forearm

There’s no secret to navigating a cold river pool
Peel clothes off; jump in.
Swim against the current and float back
Linger in possibility

Water’s persistence
Lessons in way finding
Start with a trickle
Become an irresistible roar

Old stone village
Population 15
A heart,; a school
Shuttered in the name of economic efficiency

Curtains flutter
Sighs of hot breeze
Grapes unplucked
Battery-operated candles flicker inside an ossuary

Epirotic roads curve and thrill
Glimpses of wonder as we wind up, down, around
I feel the sunblush of a teenager falling in love again.
A yes and an and

What will become of us?

—Kanina Holmes
Associate Professor
School of Journalism and Communication
Carleton University
Ottawa, Canada