Due South (redux)

A CONSTELLATION OF APOCALYPTIC

A CONSTELLATION OF APOCALYPTIC

BUTTERFLIES WHOSE EXPRESSIONS ARE AMBIGUOUS

I WAS SITTING ON THE TRUNK OF A TREE THAT HAD BEEN CHOPPED DOWN

IN MY PERIPHERAL VISION I SPOTTED A SINGULAR BUTTERFLY

THE BUTTERFLY NAVIGATED ITSELF SAFELY THROUGH THE BLADES OF THE

DWARFED WINDMILL I HELD AWAY FROM MY BODY

I HEARD THE SOUND OF MANY WHISPERING FEET

I HEARD THE SUCKING OF A MAIDS VACUUM CLEANER LEANING

PRECARIOUSLY INSIDE A CHILDS EYE SOCKET

I MOVED MY FEET IN SMALL CIRCLES

I HEARD THE DRY LEAVES CRACKLING UNDER MY SHOES

I RAISED MY HEAD TO SEE THE SINGULAR BUTTERFLY STILL IN VIEW

I WAS NO LONGER SITIING ON THE TRUNK OF A TREE

I WAS STANDING ERECT AND PERSUING THE SINGULAR BUTTERFLY

I HELD MY ARMS OUT

I WAS IMITATING FRANKENSTEIN

I WASN'T HOLDING THE DWARFED WINDMILL ANYMORE

I COULDN'T HEAR THE SUCKING OF THE VACUUM CLEANER

I COULDN'T HEAR THE WHISPERING FEET

I IMAGINED A LARGE GLASS HEART PUMPING FURIOUSLY GLOWING LIKE AN

ILLUMINES BEET

I WAS AFRAID THE GLASS WOULD CRACK

THE GLASS CRACKED

DROPS OF BLOOD APPEARED AND EVAPORATED INTO EMPTY SPACE

THE SINGULAR BUTTERFLY WAS AN AGREEABLE SHADE OF YELLOW

A VERY ANCIENT GREEK HUE

I WABBLED LIKE FRANKENSTEIN WEARING WOODEN SHOES

I HEARD THE CTCH CTCH OF A FARMER AND HIS HOE

WORKING RHYTHMICALLY IN A FIELD BELOW

THE PROPERTIES OF GLASS BEING WHAT THEY ARE, A HEART OF GLASS IS IN THEORY AND PRACTICE ILL-CONCEIVED

THE SINGULAR BUTTERFLY REMAINED ALWAYS JUST OUT OF REACH

I FOUND THE PATTERN OF ITS FLIGHT IMPOSSIBLE TO PREDICT

IT WAS CLEVER

IT ZIGGED AS I ZAGGED AND VICE VERSA

IT CHANGED COLOR TO CONFUSE ME

IT CHANGED GENDERS

I DIDN'T FIND THAT DISTRACTING HOWEVER SINCE I COULDN'T TELL THE DIFFERENCE

I WISHED I WAS IN POSSESSION OF A NET

WHEN, I MYSELF, WAS SCOOPED INTO ONE

A RATHER LARGE NET

NOT A TERRIBLY COMFORTABLE ONE AT THAT

IT APPEARED I HAD FALLEN INTO A TRAP

I HUNG SUSPENDED ABOVE THE GROUND

PRESUMABLY THE SINGULAR BUTTERFLY I HAD BEEN CHASING SIGNALLED WITH HIS/HER ANTENNA FOR HELP AND HAD RECEIVED IT

MANY SINGULAR BUTTERFLIES COOPERATED IN MY CAPTURE

IT TOOK A STAGGERINGLY LARGE ASSEMBLY OF SINGULAR BUTTERFLIES TO KEEP THE NET ABOVE GROUND

I MARVELED AT THE STRENGTH THEY EXHIBITED

IN NO TIME AT ALL I WAS SWIFTLY ASCENDNG OVER THE TREES

WE CLIMBED UPWARD TOWARDS THE HEAVENS

THE BUTTERFLIES EXPRESSIONS BETRAYED NO INDICATION OF WEARINESS

I BEGAN TO FEAR MY LIFE WAS SOON TO BE IRREVOCABLY CHANGED

WE TRAVELED THROUGH THE NIGHT NEVER DEVIATING FROM OUR UPWARD COURSE

I MISSED MY HOME

THE BUTTERFLIES BROUGHT ME INTO THE DEEP DARK RECESSES OF THE UNIVERSE

THERE WASN'T MUCH TO LOOK AT

MY MOUTH WAS CONSIDERABLY DRY AND I REMEMBER FEELING A CHILL

THE BUTTERFLIES DECIDED THEY HAD CARRIED ME A SUFFICIENT DISTANCE

AND MADE ME AWARE I WAS FREE TO ESCAPE FROM THE NET IF I SO DESIRED

I DID SO WITH HESITATION BECAUSE I HADN'T ANY EXPERIENCE IN SPACE TRAVEL AND WAS UNAWARE OF THE PROPER SAFETY PRECAUTIONS ONE SHOULD EMPLOY

I ALSO REALIZED AT THAT MOMENT THAT I WAS COMPLETELY IGNORANT OF ANY SPACE ETIQUETTE THAT MIGHT BE APPLICABLE

I WAS AS ILL PREPARED FOR THAT SITUATION AS WAS POSSIBLE

THE BUTTERFLIES WERE NO HELP

THEY WERE UNWILLING TO OFFER EVEN THE SLIGHTEST SERVICE

AS I WIGGLED ABOUT TRYING TO ACCLIMATE THE BUTTERFLIES ABANDONED ME

BEFORE LEAVING, EACH ONE FLEW UP TO MY FACE AND POKED ME IN THE EYE WITH THEIR ANTENNA

THEY HAD FORMED A LINE TO DO THIS

IT WAS A VERY LONG LINE

IT WAS TRUELLY UNPLEASANT AND GREATLY EXCEEDED MY TOLERANCE FOR SUCH THINGS

IN TIME EACH BUTTERFLY HAD HAD ITS TURN AT PUNISHING ME AND HAD DEPARTED BACK TO EARTH

NOW I WAS ALONE WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE GLASS HEART AND THE BLOOD THAT PULSATED INSIDE OF IT

I FLOATED LIKE A POTATO

I REGRETTED CHASING THE BUTTERFLY

I WAS MELANCHOLY

I BECAME PESSISMISTIC ABOUT MY FUTURE

I LOOKED LONGINGLY DOWN TOWARDS EARTH

I SAW AN INCREDIBLE VISION

THE BUTTERFLIES HAD FORMED A RING AROUND THE EARTH

THEY WERE GLOWING NOT LIKE ILLUMINES BEETS BUT MORE LIKE A RING OF ILLUMINES LEMONS

IT'S DOUBTFUL THAT THE BUTTERFLIES WERE MADE OF GLASS THOUGH THEIR YELLOW LIGHT PULSATED LIKE THE BLOOD IN THE GLASS HEART AND I ASSOCIATED THE TWO OF THEM TOGETHER AT THE TIME

THE BUTTERFLIES RELEASED A SHOWER OF THIN STICKY STRANDS OF WEB AND HAIR THAT COATED THE EARTH

THE ANIMAL LIFE ON EARTH INCLUDING MY FELLOW HUMANS BECAME TRAPPED UNDER THE WAVES OF THIS BIZARRE SECRETION

MANY SUFFOCATED

SOME WERE CRUSHED

SOME DIED OF STARVATION

SOME BECAME INSANE AND THEN WERE EITHER SUFFOCATED, CRUSHED OR DIED OF STARVATION

I DIDN'T ENJOY WATCHING THIS

IT WAS VERY SAD

I WORRIED WHAT THE BUTTERFLIES HAD IN STORE FOR ME

THE GLASS HEART CONTINUED TO CRACK AS THE PRESSURE OF THE PULSATING BLOOD INCREASED





Many thanks OM

Nothing left to do but play music and sip my scotch.

All the bleeding shopping is done and I still managed to get a few things for myself.

Scorned and Beloved: Dead of Winter Meetings with Canadian Eccentrics

We admire people who give rein to their passions and obsessions, who fly in the face of convention, who have easy access to an id unmeditated by a prissy, stultifying ego. We need them. You could say they have a societal utility. They shake up the old order. They remind us that our familiar priorities, whether personal or political, are arbitrary; the product of unthinking convention, and nothing more. We cherish these outsized characters because they amplify qualities we each of us possess in some small measure. And we love them because they give us stories. When all is said and done, it is stories that keep us buoyant.

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