My time in the UK is coming to a close for the year, so this is the penultimate video in the current haiku series, which I’m calling Autumn Metropolis. It was shot in a neighborhood of London we’ll call Anytowne, UK. It begins with a sign that I found both haiku-like and ironic:
do not enter
large dogs
may be running free
The ambiguity of “free”, especially in the British context where citizens are also subjects, and where a large proportion of them—possibly a majority—are demanding greater restrictions on their own and others’ movements, is not unlike the ambiguity of one of the dogs’ reactions to me. I feel as if it’s missing its calling as a member of the Border Force.