inception… lucid dreaming.

inception… lucid dreaming.

pink clouds
Photo by Luis Quintero on Pexels.com

the idea, planted, like a silent surreptitious spy seed, insidious indeed, while consciously aware of the virus (obviously) I did not imagine it inseminating my imagination (perhaps a naive sway), or quietly building a condo in my sub-conscious as it were, that was until yesterday, I like to think I can easily book fare into lucid dreaming, if you are unaware of what that is, go ahead and research it, I’ll still be here when you get back, anyway, whether helped by music, or meditation, I am able to get myself there more regularly these days, through practice or luck? who knows, probably some stitched quilt of both, sometimes I am stuck in a bad loop, other lucid experiences make me not want to get our of bed for fear of losing the moment, generally there are themes, even recurring locales, scenarios, maybe I nudge my sub conscious self a bit into familiar neighborhoods when dawn and night are fighting (dawn wins, you know, that is how it is), but just this, yesterday, I found myself in a familiar place (inside a set piece of a dream), this really cool hotel, or maybe just a house, but it feels like a hotel, the back of the rooms have a moat, or I suppose a pool, about ten feet wide and five feet deep, with the water constant, floor level, but a fancy pool made of dark/black stone, and the same dark stone (with a kind of wavy pattern surface) encompasses the floor of the room, kind of modern feel, but wooden walls, bamboo patterns, modern but warm with accent lighting painting “V”s north every three feet as such, the head of the bed is up against the moat (almost), the front of the room (that would face the hall) is just huge plates of tall glass to the ceiling (a high ceiling like twenty feet), frosted glass though, for privacy, and also so you could see shadows of people milling about but not what kind of people, frankly they could be aliens and you would have no clue, times like these really make me wish I could draw, but stick figures would not cut it for this exercise, and that is about all the skill I have in that area, so words will have to suffice, and I hope they do, the rooms are all connected via the moat, and you can kind of float around to see your friends and neighbors, this dream is always strange as the inhabitants are people I do not know well, or are from my past, very random, and one of them, and this detail seemed to scream at me in the dream, one of them was wearing a mask, not quite surgical, one of the low end cheap ones we see ad infinitum these days, this startled me into awake state, now, this happens time and again, something stirs you from an otherwise comfortable inside trip, often I will just dip back into my dream trying to recapture the sensation of being in my own film creation, sometimes you feel like you are falling, or you hear something, but somehow this was more disturbing, the image was so stark, almost like a thousand bulbs going off at once, like a big flash of reality to douse the fire of my inner imaginations ingenuity, and I could not force myself back into that dreaming space, so perhaps the virus has infected me, in some way, I must admit…

“tunnels” (when the ground opens and changes the world, feel)

“tunnels” (when the ground opens and changes the world, feel)

backlit black and white dark indoors
Photo by Vojtech Okenka on Pexels.com

There are days when it seems like there is some light at the end of this tunnel (these days more so), reaching back a few weeks the initial memory is so strange now, as if we just stumbled or fell blindly into this gigantic pit and a singular tunnel was the only way out, along the way lights of rumor or cures have lit up hope, and other times days bumbling about in the absolute dark, sometimes afraid to even move, listening carefully for any glimmer whisper, trying to imagine where the horizon is, where or if the dawn will come, wanting to move in that direction without harm, using distraction to pass the hours, and hours, and hours, wondering if everyone you talk to is a carrier, or are you the one who will cause others to be infected, two fold parallel paranoia cascade that slowly chews at your exterior, bit by bite, one bite is no big deal but the accumulation begins to feel more real, especially as the days move on and stay grey, rain, rain, just the sound sometimes is enough to know the sun is done for the day, and obscured light, deprives hope of needed sustenance, realization is a rock, a foundation, a tool, a better one than distraction, which is only fleeting and needs constant reconfiguration, realization that there has to be an end to this, the unprecedented ‘this’, well, at least for this generational mix, the analogy we are sold is war, but no war has been battled here, on this ground, on our turf for so long, except for the wars in history books, and reenactment hooks, those seem unreal, you ‘know‘ they were real, but the feel? to be honest, is just not there, even Washington crossing the Delaware, right here in my state, and I have been there, the very spot, seems like a fairy tale or a children’s book, when our states were not even a states as we know them now, hard to imagine those days, we are of course a product made of our own time frame construct, this is our when and now, and this is for us to endure more as a whole nation than before, so we are struggling to emerge from our sudden subterranean existence, to find and clutch that beloved normal terrace once again, even if we will be miles of locations from there in the end, as normal will move to a different point by then, “cautiously optimistic” the mantra, the meme, repeat it with me now, I do not want to be a doomsayer, or a naysayer, nor a smiling glowing peach blowing smoke up the collective posterior, somewhere in-between I think, signs of life seem to be emerging, is this just the manifestation of spring? my imagination? a combination thereof, or is this all some strange fantasy playing like a simulation in my mind, the days have seemed brighter as of late, there is still this strange silence at night compared to my memory, and still a colder than usual temperature stowaway hiding onboard, maybe I feel the weekend peeking around the door, or sense the pulse of the pending holiday, the traditional signal of summer, Memorial Day, a dinner bell to the beach for the masses, lines of cars reaching miles back on the Driscoll bridge, a time to break out the swimming pools, some fake sand and out of place palm trees, burgers and dogs on the grill, all these things float like dreams out there, beyond the tunnel end, but I think I can catch a glimpse of them, hopefully, not a hallucination after wandering these some months in a tunnel, that seemed to have no end…

totally unrelated audio, aside from the name, a band I always loved, call it sludge, call it metal, sloppy bass heavy metal with near scream vox, that is fudge tunnel, sometimes you just want to let loose and groove, lyrics? who cares, feel?  yeah… and hell yeah… groove on down the road, they got chops, and the bass sound is sick, so deal…

 

threading the loopholes of time…

threading the loopholes of time…

Canary_A2002186_1155_250m

a needle’s guide, finding the eddies in everyday life, break down to now, trimming to shape one of my bamboo bushes (bamboo comes in many forms not just the tall stuff you see those ultra cute Pandas chomping on), anyway, seems so mundane, doesn’t it? but (you know a big ‘but’ was coming sirmixalot), BUT this leads to that space, a sort of zen space, my version of bonsai time I suppose… some describe time as a river, always moving (assuming no dry season, I will have to parse that one out with Einstein on the other side I suppose), there I times when I have imagined, if there is a bank, if I could swim on over, grab a branch, some downed tree, and crawl up on the shore, even if for a moment or more, to be outside of time as it were, or was, or is, or… well, you get the drift (pun intended), finding the eddy, putting your finger in, being aware you are within the counter to the norm, the space where time seems to stand at attention, or still, if you will, now certainly I am no fool (contrary to reports you may have heard, perhaps she was right in some regard, regardless), time does not truly stand still (ever), anyway, finding those activities, hobbies, proclivities, situations, permutations, active participation in the moments where time finds a way to slip your mind, to fall away from any perception of the moment in hand, or on hand, or in your hands, like a flame dancing in your grasp without burning you, because you are the owner of this momentary reality outside normal parameters, thinking outside the box that there is no more box, for you see, there are times we are virtually occupying these spaces, usually without realization, so… trimming my bamboo, slowly pulls me into an eddy of calm, I am not even dawned upon that I am gone, the world is still moving about, surely, but I am lost in a sea of my own tranquility, unknowingly, and when I realize, then, of course, the moment is gone, where did the time go? sped up? “impossible” we’re told, why? that is the best we understand at this rest area of the human mind, but surely, and of this I am sure, the road goes on, the river does not cease, but every rare once in a while, the cosmos, god, the essence of life provides, a door, an escape hatch, a slide into temporary reprieve from the ponderous heft of time, so be sure to notice and thread the needle through the loophole’s eye, and look, and breath in the free space that was created just for you…

“lawn angel”

“lawn angel”

blade of grass depth of field environment garden
Photo by Matthias Cooper on Pexels.com

the unbridled imagination and lack of restraint of children, sometimes the sweet refrain of those days swings back into my mind like a welcome coup de-tat, never as pure as before the realizations of life, the consequences, the daily race, whatever we like to refer to adulthood or post childhood, such dreary dreadful days lately, working from home and sequestered alone physically takes a toll mentally, not every minute does the bright sprite of the simple joy of living suffice to uplift the spirit, sometimes a little bump from the outside needs to meander in and plant a boot firmly up our patoot for motivation, finally a day like this, sun cresting nearly to late summer levels, rumors of eighty degrees circulate through the trees, and… the feeling is infectious, sure, there is hardcore science about vitamin d and the like, but this is not that effect I might think, this is a culmination, breached with relief, a balloon that was stretched with ill breath fed let go, fluttering about like a headless chicken sounding more like a flapping lips engine, until, without a doubt, all the air is let out, and utter relaxation, returned to form, release, just to sit being, in this moment I imagine myself lying on the lawn, and doing that angel motion, waving my arms, usually reserved for snow, I know, but it seems to match the situation, the freedom of it, a child would not think twice of jumping in, I think of grass stains and bugs, trivial but true, why not do a lawn angel? “is this a thing” I think, an internet search does not come up with much but apparently sand angels are a thing (makes sense really), but the thought of a lawn angel to just rejoice in the warming sun, silly fun, the release of a time long gone, but somewhere in here (pointing to myself), that child is still in there (somewhere), I need to just strip away all the ‘important’ things for a hot minute and listen, or perhaps just feel… did I do it? I have to admit, no, but the thought was a release in itself, and perhaps next time I will delve…

thoughts from the porch… (they tell me this is spring)

thoughts from the porch… (they tell me this is spring)

person tossing globe
Photo by Valentin Antonucci on Pexels.com

is the world off kilter? is the earth spinning a bit off axis? or am I just paying more attention lately (or running out of things to do indoors), this evening, winter temperatures laced with spring intentions, all signs pointing in the blooming direction, there was even the occasional peep show of seventy degrees last week, or am I embellishing my own memory, the trees are now fully clothed, the dandelion’s time has crested and fallen, the breeze has a louder voice among the leaves, like occasional waves breaking on the beach, no discernible undulation or pattern, but much the same sound as waves crashing, I feel I am in the eye of the calm, this corner of the world is quite quiet now, the sun setting rays readily highlight the various tribes of leaves on the stage before me, all with the same function but a different design to achieve the same destination, I imagine humans are much the same…

notes… this is monday felt like sunday, or was it sunday, or is this monday?  after seeing snow in may just the other day, not today near a freeze??  these are strange days… indeed… (this is part of a series, sort of anthology, the rest is HERE, well mostly, I have a day job you know…)

thoughts… from the porch (my porch, or perch, or… whatever, free form thought, give it a spin, you might like it)…

thoughts… from the porch (my porch, or perch, or… whatever, free form thought, give it a spin, you might like it)…

abandoned grass light merry go round
Photo by Levi Damasceno on Pexels.com

in the distance I can hear children faintly playing, yells and screams evoke alarms inside instead of joy, in these abnormal times, my instincts, reactions, daily actions, all come into question now…
Ring-a-round the rosie,
A pocket full of posies,
Ashes! Ashes!
We all fall down.
I wonder if a simple child’s rhyme will outline this stretch of death one day, that, of course will come after, not in the teeth of the pathogenic strife, I have always believed I was a patient person, certainly not a short fuse bomb waiting to happen, just when I do reach that limit I feel like I am up on the absolute edge of a cliff, no other side, no bottom, no turning around but leap… I picture that my candle was great and tall like a fortress castle wall, but burning down for so long now, my wick surely has not much longer to go, and the dawn, I am not a candle-maker, maybe I have to be, or learn to be, I do not know, or should I strive to deprive the flame of bright oxygen, I can not cap all the air, even if I tried my subconscious thoughts would betray and supply, a traitor I harbor inside.
This is much easier, today, sitting here on my porch, no mask (aside from the ones I always wear in that other life), no gloves, no one around to be socially distant from, I suppose Fear is taking a nap, he had a busy week with me back at my office, and certainly he plastered my inner walls with doubt, but all seems calm now, with a deep breath, I  exhale as much of the negative as I can muster, I envision my candle now, small flame flickering inside my sanctum, the wax of the worn melted drawn out onto the wooden table, the newborn pool of spent liquid wax reflecting a dancing twin, “slowly, slowly” I mantra, “this will all end” with a hope wrapped in a prayer

onward goes, this strangest spring, awaiting the salvation of normalcy to arrive into these harbors overflowed with a cargo of hope… and renewal.

observation, on a strange day…

observation, on a strange day…

grayscale photography of brown and black bench
Photo by Paweł L. on Pexels.com

I saw an older man
sitting straight on a bench
hands in black jacket pockets
facing the cold lake
solitary confinement
for being outdoors
on this coldest day of may

notes... (haiku feel, ya feel me?) this was a record breaking day here, granted our weather records do not go back that far really but anyway, it was cold, I was driving to grab some dindin after work kicked me in the ass and head (you would think I would learn to be able to zen it out by now), and I hit… a squall, as in snow, seriously, my car read 33 degrees, that is pretty low for may in these parts,  I was driving by one of my favorite spots in my local little world and listening to the recording below… (classical music is good decompression you know, well, at least for me, and that is generally who I am concerned about, go figure…)

spring, in this strange time…

spring, in this strange time…

pink petaled flowers closeup photo
Photo by Brett Sayles on Pexels.com

the gallery of the cherry blossoms
hung among this, the haunted spring
for if march showers bring promise
we can not await their offering
in the quiet of april
showers quarrel more
prayers wait
for the arrival of the summer sun

notes… haiku feel (for me), sort of, one of those as I say ‘wrote itself’, sometimes I feel like the words come from somewhere else, I could take all the credit, but when I think about it the universe has collaborated to create me at this instant (and you, incidentally)… so, a lot had to happen for this little post of words, and it actually did…

a quote about perspective…

a quote about perspective…

“I look up upon the budding leaves
I see the look of blooming stars”

low angle view of pink flowers against blue sky
Photo by John-Mark Smith on Pexels.com

notes… even in this dire time (at least here in NYC metro area, covid ground zero) this is still spring, life can be about perspective, from the smallest atom to the most massive objects in the universe, there is a line that connects all… the wonders of the universe are all at play right in front of us all the time from a moon to a lowly dime… keep that in mind, when you can.