Faerieworlds 2004
lying atop a bunkbed in a hostel in portland. i flip upside down and stare smiling at chantal. she is pretending to sleep. she knows i will throw a pillow at her head like i did last night.
she met me outside the airport terminal in a burgundy corrolla. police were whistling at cars to keep moving. big smiles, quick hugs and we threw my suitcase in the back seat. i jumped in the front. she handed me mapquest directions and we were off. it was midnight and we were hyper. “wanna get a drink?” she offerred wickedly. i told her how tomorrow is the blue moon and upon parking the car in front of the hostel, and walking arm in arm down a gorgeous street and coming upon options for bars, one of them was called ‘blue moon’. “well it seems our decision had been made for us already.”
we sat in a wooden booth by dim light and loud music. when the plate came it was overflowing with food. “wow! i forgot i was in america!” she said. “yesyes, large portions…” we made ourselves stop talking at 1:30am after realizing that the sun comes up at 4:30am here. someone had told me that while waiting at the baggage claim. sunlight from 4:30am until 10pm here! “which means my body will start to sense it at 4am and… oh, poor YOU!” i warned her. “no,” she said firmly, “i NEED my sleep…” “fine,” i said, with my own agenda…hee hee…and here it is 6am and i’m restraining myself. any slight movement in the bunk below me and the canadaian GETS it! my sister left me a voice mail that i just checked now “what the HELL are you doin gin portland, you maniac?” giggles and click…
solas on stage now. bright late afternoon sunlight. wrapped in blue feathers. children jumping and spinning in loose dusty sand. an infant sucking on his mother’s shoulder. women in braids, renaissance dresses waltzing with perfect postures, arms around each other…lovely. elvin masks, patchwork capes. the scent of wine. headdresses of feathers, wreaths of rosebuds. winged men, swaying mothers and children are all around me. chantal and redcap, happy beside me. many vendors selling every such faerie thing known to the sky. i showed restraint if only a bit. a bunch of stickers and two journals.
one vendor was carrying a familiar book, finding faeries “my ex-nyc-roomate, david, illustrated this,” i said to chantal… “ooooh, and i’m IN it!” i remembered, flipping wildly through it, not realizing i was on the COVER! just then the woman sitting there piped up…”he’s here, you know… david.” and i went in a frenzy search for him. i hadn’t seen him in 8 years! just when i gave up looking for him in the crowds, he crossed my path. i ran up next to him and slipped my arm under his, swinging him ’round, ‘hihihi!’. his face reddened and we hugged. “i shoulda KNOWN you’d be here!” he said and we spent some time catching up under trees. he gave me a signed copy of his book and drew me something in my journal. we waited in line for him to get things signed by brian froud. toby was standing next to his father. his eyes brightened in uncertain recognition at me. “labyrinth last year…” i offerred and he held my hand for a moment. he came and sat with me for a bit, told me about film school and things. glitter has embedded into my skin, feathers shift with the wind.
a girl came up to redcap and asked if he was pan or if he was PUCK. after some thought he burst out “i’m… PANCK!” HA!!! redcap is funny~ he wrote me another beautiful story. he says i am the character ‘flicker crisp’.
night has fallen. the blue moon yet to rise. hundreds of people screaming, celebrating. woodland takes the stage. harp and didgeridoo and drum. everyone spins insane in their own evergreen here. horns protrude among the scattered. tree trunks entwined in spiral luminescence. i never run away or to…i simply seek out a pulse. this whirling celebrating of life…it is neither solution nor recourse… if life indeed DOES go by in a blink of an eye, this energetic revelry is what i wish to see behind closed eyelids, if only for that second…
costumed palm-extended smiling loves in their dance. chantal and i passed wine at twilight on a winding road counting all the ways in which we are fortunate for this moment. is there nothing more than moments such as these?
weaving through the spinning crowd. blue boa feathers trailing how i feel tonight. woodland spun a frenzy flicker and no one has recovered yet. i saw a man on his knees prostrate in front of the stage. i felt his gratitude, heard his words in my ears. “i heard that,” i said as he came to his feet and then i continued to spin through the crowd. he caught up to me, hugged me wide and we both spun on to other places. a priestess steps out from a shadow on stage with a singing bowl and sends us all to shivers… a line of torches and fire spinners ignite! hedonistic sounds bring madness! didge brings the grounding i crave… we are all wide-eyed in poi and wonder…
big beautiful afternoon again.. day two of the faerieworlds festival. i have acquired huge purple wings now… “we are guardians of eden” the musicians bellow from the stage. fanciful pooka fey and satyrs jump and prance. masked women with peacock feather plumes bellydance and send out blessings… topless nature vixens, earthy nectar girls churn their energy between sand and sky. irridescent flowing blue skirts, arabian calls, a soft descent after clapping.
…how serious the violin…
braids in the sun, slow spinning… wishes in the wind. a purple cape, bubbles drift across the crowd, children chase after them. one bounces softly off my chest and then…pops… brian froud passes me and says ‘ello. “NO I SAID ‘ELLO!” i sneer at him and he giggles…. they settle in for a book signing…
i meditate when i drift through festivals, going where senses bring me. sights, sounds, smells. these brightly adorned creatures, these incredible music boxes projected out, organic food. i find shade and lose myself in music… people come up to me and ask if they can take my photo. some of them stay to chat, leaving with hugs and promises to email. others just click, smile and wander on… my wings catch in the wind and having these huge wings pushing against my arms give my heart a physical space to extend, a new enclosure… bubbles hit treetops.
one of the most amazing weekends of my life… everything faerie! the frouds! toby gave me a piggy back ride and wendy snapped photos… new music, new wings, amy brown! new people… i am alone in my tent now, writing by candle light. drumming all around me. trillian green had finished playing and i could not find chantal or redcap. so i wandered in the dark in the woods. the peak of the full blue moon lit my way through tall quiet trees and soft steps… in the distance i hear the roar of the crowd as closing ceremonies finish and a book end attaches to the festivities. so happy i came here… these festivals are my personal temporary ley lines… i always feel rejuvenated and awake in a way that the time-full world does not.
chantal and i awoke in the tent to screeching peacocks and while still toasty sleepy, giggled as we parodied them, imagining them screaming “NOOOoooooOOO!” we unzipped the windows and soaked up our last bit of nature morning. majestic sunlight bouncing through rich oregon leaves on tall trees. we let the air out of the mattress, shook the tent out and rolled everything compact into my suitcase. reluctantly we made preparations to return to the ‘real’ world. we stopped at the entrance to horning’s hideout to admire the white peacocks preening and prancing, delaying the leap over the threshold… redcap stood in the middle of the road awaiting his ride to the airport in some crazy hippy caravan. when we got on the highway, chantal turned the music up a bit panicked. she said that it was a shock to hear car noises after such a weekend of nature. we took $3 showers at a hostel and had a delicious brunch at hawthorne’s cafe, complete with mimosas.
the sweetest man came out to tell us the specials of the day but stopped just as soon as he began. “oh you are so beautiful, i cannot even LOOK at you,” he said to us in a cute accent not unlike italian, “i shall have to talk to you with my eyes closed…” and so he did for a while and then looked to the side as he expertly and quickly told us of all his restaurant’s goodness. “i bring you EXTRA champagne!” he announced as he dramatically set out our strawberry-rimmed glasses of mimosas. a perfect ending to a perfect weekend…
Read Moreshe met me outside the airport terminal in a burgundy corrolla. police were whistling at cars to keep moving. big smiles, quick hugs and we threw my suitcase in the back seat. i jumped in the front. she handed me mapquest directions and we were off. it was midnight and we were hyper. “wanna get a drink?” she offerred wickedly. i told her how tomorrow is the blue moon and upon parking the car in front of the hostel, and walking arm in arm down a gorgeous street and coming upon options for bars, one of them was called ‘blue moon’. “well it seems our decision had been made for us already.”
we sat in a wooden booth by dim light and loud music. when the plate came it was overflowing with food. “wow! i forgot i was in america!” she said. “yesyes, large portions…” we made ourselves stop talking at 1:30am after realizing that the sun comes up at 4:30am here. someone had told me that while waiting at the baggage claim. sunlight from 4:30am until 10pm here! “which means my body will start to sense it at 4am and… oh, poor YOU!” i warned her. “no,” she said firmly, “i NEED my sleep…” “fine,” i said, with my own agenda…hee hee…and here it is 6am and i’m restraining myself. any slight movement in the bunk below me and the canadaian GETS it! my sister left me a voice mail that i just checked now “what the HELL are you doin gin portland, you maniac?” giggles and click…
solas on stage now. bright late afternoon sunlight. wrapped in blue feathers. children jumping and spinning in loose dusty sand. an infant sucking on his mother’s shoulder. women in braids, renaissance dresses waltzing with perfect postures, arms around each other…lovely. elvin masks, patchwork capes. the scent of wine. headdresses of feathers, wreaths of rosebuds. winged men, swaying mothers and children are all around me. chantal and redcap, happy beside me. many vendors selling every such faerie thing known to the sky. i showed restraint if only a bit. a bunch of stickers and two journals.
one vendor was carrying a familiar book, finding faeries “my ex-nyc-roomate, david, illustrated this,” i said to chantal… “ooooh, and i’m IN it!” i remembered, flipping wildly through it, not realizing i was on the COVER! just then the woman sitting there piped up…”he’s here, you know… david.” and i went in a frenzy search for him. i hadn’t seen him in 8 years! just when i gave up looking for him in the crowds, he crossed my path. i ran up next to him and slipped my arm under his, swinging him ’round, ‘hihihi!’. his face reddened and we hugged. “i shoulda KNOWN you’d be here!” he said and we spent some time catching up under trees. he gave me a signed copy of his book and drew me something in my journal. we waited in line for him to get things signed by brian froud. toby was standing next to his father. his eyes brightened in uncertain recognition at me. “labyrinth last year…” i offerred and he held my hand for a moment. he came and sat with me for a bit, told me about film school and things. glitter has embedded into my skin, feathers shift with the wind.
a girl came up to redcap and asked if he was pan or if he was PUCK. after some thought he burst out “i’m… PANCK!” HA!!! redcap is funny~ he wrote me another beautiful story. he says i am the character ‘flicker crisp’.
night has fallen. the blue moon yet to rise. hundreds of people screaming, celebrating. woodland takes the stage. harp and didgeridoo and drum. everyone spins insane in their own evergreen here. horns protrude among the scattered. tree trunks entwined in spiral luminescence. i never run away or to…i simply seek out a pulse. this whirling celebrating of life…it is neither solution nor recourse… if life indeed DOES go by in a blink of an eye, this energetic revelry is what i wish to see behind closed eyelids, if only for that second…
costumed palm-extended smiling loves in their dance. chantal and i passed wine at twilight on a winding road counting all the ways in which we are fortunate for this moment. is there nothing more than moments such as these?
weaving through the spinning crowd. blue boa feathers trailing how i feel tonight. woodland spun a frenzy flicker and no one has recovered yet. i saw a man on his knees prostrate in front of the stage. i felt his gratitude, heard his words in my ears. “i heard that,” i said as he came to his feet and then i continued to spin through the crowd. he caught up to me, hugged me wide and we both spun on to other places. a priestess steps out from a shadow on stage with a singing bowl and sends us all to shivers… a line of torches and fire spinners ignite! hedonistic sounds bring madness! didge brings the grounding i crave… we are all wide-eyed in poi and wonder…
big beautiful afternoon again.. day two of the faerieworlds festival. i have acquired huge purple wings now… “we are guardians of eden” the musicians bellow from the stage. fanciful pooka fey and satyrs jump and prance. masked women with peacock feather plumes bellydance and send out blessings… topless nature vixens, earthy nectar girls churn their energy between sand and sky. irridescent flowing blue skirts, arabian calls, a soft descent after clapping.
…how serious the violin…
braids in the sun, slow spinning… wishes in the wind. a purple cape, bubbles drift across the crowd, children chase after them. one bounces softly off my chest and then…pops… brian froud passes me and says ‘ello. “NO I SAID ‘ELLO!” i sneer at him and he giggles…. they settle in for a book signing…
i meditate when i drift through festivals, going where senses bring me. sights, sounds, smells. these brightly adorned creatures, these incredible music boxes projected out, organic food. i find shade and lose myself in music… people come up to me and ask if they can take my photo. some of them stay to chat, leaving with hugs and promises to email. others just click, smile and wander on… my wings catch in the wind and having these huge wings pushing against my arms give my heart a physical space to extend, a new enclosure… bubbles hit treetops.
one of the most amazing weekends of my life… everything faerie! the frouds! toby gave me a piggy back ride and wendy snapped photos… new music, new wings, amy brown! new people… i am alone in my tent now, writing by candle light. drumming all around me. trillian green had finished playing and i could not find chantal or redcap. so i wandered in the dark in the woods. the peak of the full blue moon lit my way through tall quiet trees and soft steps… in the distance i hear the roar of the crowd as closing ceremonies finish and a book end attaches to the festivities. so happy i came here… these festivals are my personal temporary ley lines… i always feel rejuvenated and awake in a way that the time-full world does not.
chantal and i awoke in the tent to screeching peacocks and while still toasty sleepy, giggled as we parodied them, imagining them screaming “NOOOoooooOOO!” we unzipped the windows and soaked up our last bit of nature morning. majestic sunlight bouncing through rich oregon leaves on tall trees. we let the air out of the mattress, shook the tent out and rolled everything compact into my suitcase. reluctantly we made preparations to return to the ‘real’ world. we stopped at the entrance to horning’s hideout to admire the white peacocks preening and prancing, delaying the leap over the threshold… redcap stood in the middle of the road awaiting his ride to the airport in some crazy hippy caravan. when we got on the highway, chantal turned the music up a bit panicked. she said that it was a shock to hear car noises after such a weekend of nature. we took $3 showers at a hostel and had a delicious brunch at hawthorne’s cafe, complete with mimosas.
the sweetest man came out to tell us the specials of the day but stopped just as soon as he began. “oh you are so beautiful, i cannot even LOOK at you,” he said to us in a cute accent not unlike italian, “i shall have to talk to you with my eyes closed…” and so he did for a while and then looked to the side as he expertly and quickly told us of all his restaurant’s goodness. “i bring you EXTRA champagne!” he announced as he dramatically set out our strawberry-rimmed glasses of mimosas. a perfect ending to a perfect weekend…
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