In this wide-ranging collection of essays Tanis MacDonald walks the reader down many paths, pointing out the sights, exclaiming over birds, sharing stories and asking questions about just who gets to walk freely through our cities, parks and wilderness. Deer move mysteriously through these essays, knowing just when they vanish from sight, as do predators, both human and animal. She walks to begin to understand the place she now calls home in Southern Ontario, catalogues the fauna around her in FaunaWatch and continues walking through illness.

From a child spotting a snowy owl on her way to school in Winnipeg, to a young woman watching her own distinctive walk be imitated in an acting class, to a worried daughter helping her mother relearn how to walk after a bad fall on a busy road, MacDonald shares how walking has shaped her life and the lives of many others. Wry, smart, political and lyrical, these essays share the joy of walking as well its danger and uncovers the promise it offers — of healing, of companionship and of understanding. (From Wolsak & Wynn)

MacDonald is a poet, writer and professor. She won the Bliss Carman Poetry Prize in 2003 and was a finalist for the Gabrielle Roy Prize in 2013 for her book The Daughter's Way. Her other work includes the poetry collections Mobile and Arguments with the Lake and the book Out of Line: Daring to be an Artist Outside the Big City. MacDonald was also on the 2021 CBC Poetry Prize longlist for her poem Walking in Space.