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| Picture and Poem by Matsuo Basho |
Still I have always been drawn by windblown clouds into dreams of a lifetime of wandering.
—Matsuo Basho, Narrow Road to the Interior, Translation by Sam Hamil
_______
I walk into an ecological sanctuary where exotic plants and
fish thrive in a hot greenhouse. The humid air transports one to a
transcendence of spatial dimensions, wherein time breathes with the quickening
pace of an intensified microcosmic environment. Jungle leaves brush against my
face as lotus-bloomed lilies freshly spring from the fish-born soup of
breathable life in the density of my deeply woven surroundings. A plant
scientist and professor live in a nearby hut within the transplanted immersion
of moderate rainforest. Also an active marijuana enthusiast, he keeps to
himself, remote behind a fastened wall of swollen wood. I and a few friends
meander through the delicate passageways, magically mysterious fruits and vines
hang down with a gift of flowering beauty unknown to our Massachusetts scents. Our eyes glisten in
the cool dank inner workings of such magnificent spires as they that mount upon
the blank calm of a recess and serenity in this isolated outgrowth of our
Earth’s most advanced biological developments.
As we glide effortlessly, weaving in and out of the
rejuvenating corridors, a glint of an eye sparks in an unseen corner. The walls
open to encompass the ever-widening viscera of inbound flora. A blue panther
sneaks beyond the encircling brush, masked by the glowing façade of a charged,
fearful night. We are unprepared. Dropping everything, we rush headlong into
the deepest corridor, seeking refuge. This otherworldly animal, prehistoric and
enigmatic, bleeds into the folds of any remaining sensation of physical
security. We manage to find refuge beneath an enclosure of tables. Frightened
beyond the immediacy of thought, we smash the external glass of the sanctuary and
carefully stretch outside into the neighboring cold, modern presence of the
un-bubbled Earthly night.
________
Jungle
"The jungle in dreams represents the wild, passionate side of your personality. How you feel about the jungle in your dream indicates how comfortable you are with this side of yourself." (iDream)
_________
gills
swung & cushiond by a sacrament of fear
bluish
fine heard at the doorstep
launch into the outer, outer face
punishd by grub
bleary & entwined
drunken
hatching
encouraged to bleed freely
whitish as the granted
millions of empires
hunting forgotten, manmade laws
strapped to so much matter
wholed or scrappd
left out, dried
mushroom fat, swollen spiritual
mind
one
- excerpt from "stir."
