Nordic Psychogeography

My wife and I were in Columbus, Ohio a few weekends ago visiting her best friend.  We brought our dog with us and twice a day I would take Nula for a walk.  Down the street from her friends house I stepped onto “Walhalla Rd”. This street is in an old ravine and and the stream there has been preserved along with the native plants creating what they called an “urban arboreteum”. From Walhalla Rd. I take a left up “Brynhild Rd.” a street with two long brick walls on other sides and huge white oak trees.

​When I get to the top of this street a sign announces I am in the Midgard Neighborhood. There is Midgard Pl. and off it, Gudrun, Mimring, Iswald.  Nearby is Woodbine.  Eventually As I loop back down towards the house, I see another street called Druid street…. and I’m thinking, if I ever moved to Columbus, this is my neighborhood! Then I see a truck in a parking lot for someone who does tree work. Their bumper sticker says, “Trees are the Answer“.

Later in the evening after 10PM I take the dog out for another stretch around these streets, and all of a sudden I spot a coyote on someones manicured front lawn. The wild can’t be kept out. The rise in deer population in Ohio has also meant a rise in the number coyotes and they are creeping closer in the cities. We regard each other for a moment and then it is off.