the worst is yet to come
A threat
to the immense tracts of forest
that ring the Northern Hemisphere
grim proof
the worst is yet to come.
Vast stands of spruce and other resinous trees
the resinous trees of the boreal zone
become more susceptible to fire
intense fires that are nearly impossible to control.
Forest fires are a natural part
of the history of the forest
but records
suggest they may be reaching an unnatural level of frequency and intensity.
“We’re kind of at a crossroads.
“We anticipate more fires, and more intense fires, in the future.”
The forests return to the atmosphere.
Fig: Yet to Come
text excavated from here.
–The Odalisque
zenith
Here we are again.
sun top high shine shine shine the live-long day.
long live the sun king.
–The Odalisque
other marvels
I made a grid and titled it THE SHADOW UNIVERSE AND OTHER MARVELS. The rows and columns are labeled with shades of black. There is a storm blowing about, strewing fury and frustration.
Outer-space is where an odalisque escapes (read odalisques in space if you’re curious about that), but universal is all. The witching hour is the hour in which things are made. Look at a clock whose hands are stuck how they stutter stutter at what-o-clock don’t panic. Kill the clock. Clip the coil, pull the plug, flip out the cylindrical case for reactive chemicals, all toxicity (cadmium, mercury, lead), these mechanisms that have the power to drive hands.
When you’ve incapacitated the clocks, give your hands their work. Soon the birds will whistle, churtle, stir. Black becomes grey becomes white, even blue.
Clouds will pass. Sun time is gentler, more subtle, than numbered dials.
day’s end
space: absence [storm at sea]
universal: constant connection (expected to listen passively)
midnight
space: you describe the world
universal: stop. lost. [clouds]
witching hour
space: i should be right now [black iron fence or gate?]
universal: I am reclaiming. The writer always triumphs.
the writer always triumphs. I am betrothed to the stars. each pierces me like a pin. identify me for future generations: Saint Sebastian, beloved of art.
–The Odalisque
fig. 1158 (flaming valentine)
I have nothing to say but I do have a valentine.
fig. 1158: pleasure to/hearth
Last year’s valentine was my most popular post! It was full of ruins. This one has a hearth, which they say is the center of a home.
I hope you like this one, too, even though I don’t have much to say about it.
Here’s something someone else said:
if what we could–were what we would–
criterion–be small–
it is the ultimate of talk–
the impotence to tell–(emily dickinson)
It doesn’t matter what we say. It matters what we do.
Do something good.
–The Odalisque
why does the phoenix (billet 4)
a candle in my ear burned down to ash. wake up. eyelashes caked with ash. head thick with smoke. obscure.
o reader
o out-there
here:
fig. 6: astrolabe/the stairs
(the phoenix leaves flaming notes on my pillow. Click to read the last billet doux…)
there are no words left.
it doesn’t matter what you say.
it matters what you do.
what will you do?
Fig. 1 (enough) questionnante
A series this week! On the complex concept, “enough”
[click to enlarge]
[Fig. 1]
[Fig. 1 DETAIL]
[With words a beautiful, strange creature, all scales and song and shimmering fins, I bring out of the deep]
[for you to give you con ]
[The beast sings in the air then submerges. The sea folds over it.]
Fig. 3 (enough) enough
Part 3 of a series this week! On the complex concept, “enough”
[click to enlarge]
[Fig. 3: Perspective]
[for years a frayed rope tied to a timber]
[floats in the tide like a flayed eel]
[etc.]
Fig. 16 (enough) shimmer
A series this week! On the complex concept, “enough”
[click to enlarge]
[Figure 16: Variation]
[Emptiness, she thinks, is the reward of an open heart.]
Fig. 18 (enough) bleakness
A series this week! (Read intro here.)
[click to enlarge]
[Fig. 18]
[You were always welcome here, traveler]
I am the odalisque who lives in an obelisk. I converse with birds.
