The world was too shiny. This struck me on leaving the house and the impression failed to depart on my route to the station. Bright, vibrant yellows… lush, verdant greens… everything glowing from within. A sharp edge clung to each object, provocative rather than cutting. A little too real for comfort. Laughter hanging in the air.
I boarded the train. It struck me as a miracle that I could join this vehicle, be transported from one state to another. I believe, half-way through my journey, I laughed out loud. “I’m on a train… this is FUCKING BRILLIANT.” A small part of me noted the frenzy, the mania. Accountant with clipboard, scoring myself eleven out of ten.
I arrived at my friend’s house bug-eyed and breathless. Luckily I had anticipated the need to calm this pleasantly raging furnace behind my brow and had equipped myself with suitable supplies… Jamaican stripes and Italian whines. I recall inappropriate laughter and over-heightened sentiment, gradually lapsing into calm.
Five hours later, I sit here on my return voyage with a dirty white tablet on my knees. I am back in the zone again, but a black, sticky glitter covers my keys and fingers… oily, soot-like, opium grease, indelible irritant factor, reminding me that the after-effects of (he)art persist long after you’ve fled the scene of crime-ation. Evidence.
This bullet-in shoots forward into the night and, with the purity of the messenger rather than the message, I wonder which target I’m aiming for.
Well, I kind of like it when the world is that way a round, although, yes, some times it’s too much to bear.
But more particularly , I love the way you take apart words, probably because I see them that way too. Some of the time.
I really did like reading this. Thank you for writing it.
Ah, the loneliness of the long-distance punner. I love ripping language apart and collaging it back into something that makes sense in a different way. It’s a game, a creative act and – occasionally – a stress response. If the world pushes me too far, I push back by re-defining it.
The glitter was literal, by the way, though reading this again a couple of days later it’s a nice metaphor too. A few minutes ago I put my hand into my pocket to fish out some coins and yet again found shiny black speckles on my hand.
I found some of that on my carpet: think it is a natural phenomenon?
Wonderful imagery, and delightfully playful.
I hate you.
You write seldom and then breeze back with stuff like this. You swine! (but please, more!)
“Breeze back”??? Every word was ripped from my fucking soul, dahling.