Room for Growth — Lacuna Among the Vineyard Rows

The wire catches the last hard light before the earth does.

Lacuna walks slowly along it, alone between the vineyard rows. At the next post, a fruiting cane bows away from its support. Lacuna steadies it with one hand and works a soft tie around cane and wire with the other. The first loop slips. The second holds, loose enough to leave room for growth.

An agreement with provision for expansion. Sensible drafting.

Beyond the knot, the rows climb the slope in ordered lines: dark wires, grey stones, posts the colour of old rust. From a distance the arrangement looks inevitable. Up close, every turn has had to be chosen. How much sun can reach the leaves; where air can pass; whether a person can get a hand in without fighting the vine.

Lacuna checks the tie rather than improving it again. The cane rests against the wire without being pinched. That will do.

Farther uphill, the straight lines shorten in perspective. There is nothing straight about the ground beneath them. Lacuna moves on to the next post, keeping a hand near the wire.