Before Google,
I wondered where the term came from.
Did they, “in the old days”,
ride around the countryside,
from church to church?
Did they ride once around each church with a steeple
or did they have to touch the church towers?
And did churches without steeples count?
Courses must have differed according to region:
New England towns could have had local chases,
racing around the four churches on each town square,
whereas
the rural South would have long distance chases,
which is where all the jumping over walls and
hedges may have come from.
Did they use maps or did they
memorize the church locations?
Is steeplechase the precursor of
orienteering?
geocaching?
Pokemon-go?
Sometimes it’s more fun to not Google.
Gerry Galuardi, living in Maryland, refuses to say he is retired. He works as a cellar rat at Boordy Vineyards, and front desk office assistant for Meals on Wheels, and is more of a singer-songwriter than poet. However, what are songs but poems put to music? His latest two recordings are “That’s Why I’m Here” and “Call on Me”. This is his first submission of poetry to any journal.