dreamscape writing 1 Mar 2018

[This dream occurred after I had gone back to sleep following my morning thankfulness ceremony, having eschewed my morning meditation practice due to poor sleep and being in a foul mood.]

I and a handful of others were in a steam locomotive working our way through a long system of tunnels. We’d come far already, having traveled a great distance under what felt like a vast mountain. Reaching a fork in the path, the train split into two part, each with its own locomotive. From an initial position at the front of the first loc my perspective switched to the cow-catcher on the second engine, from where I could see and hear the engineers running them talking to one another. The first loc was driven by a dark-faced man, the second by a woman with dark hair. They were both wearing World War 1 style doughboy helmets and had to duck back into their compartments repeatedly due to the tightness of the translucent white tunnels through which we passed. (The tunnels were open at parts, bisected here and there by pillars that seemed organic, as if they’d grown into place.) The trains rapidly decelerated, and the female driver informed her counterpart that the tracks stopped just up ahead.

At least five people left the trains and walked into a large cavern located at the tracks’ terminus. Both tunnels opened up into the cavern via vaulted passageways. The rear and side walls of the cavern were of rough-hewn, living stone about five meters high and ten meters wide. Its ceiling was shored up by rough timber scaffolding and sloped in a rounded fashion downward from the rear wall forward, which I could see had a door of wooden planks set into it, locked with heavy iron chains. (The cavern was shaped like the quarter of a cylinder.) I and the others began to explore the cavern, finding a running spring to our left (protected by a rusted iron fence whose gate stood open) and four separate raised garden beds, two on each side with a shallow trough running between them. I began planning out where we could sleep and in which beds we could plant crops. As the others continued to explore, I floated over and examined the locked door, at which point I discovered that some of the planks had fallen aside, revealing through a square of intact mosquito netting (set into a framework painted red) a suburban street beyond (the street was one located on a hill above UCLA in Westwood, CA). Our group rejoiced upon finding that our journey was nearly complete.

Using a power-drill I then began to try to pull out the large screws that secured the chains to the crude planks of the door. They were slotted screws and my bit kept slipping, as I was using a Phillips-head. Suddenly, I and two other unseen presences were sitting on a vast mudflat which stretched ahead of us for at least five hundred meters, terminating in a coastal road with tall green mountains rising above it. The screws I was trying to undo secured not a door but chains wrapped around a gambling machine the size of a 1980s boombox. The machine had slots for coins and bills, the jackpot being a million dollars. I asked one of the others for a dollar to feed into the jackpot slot and was rebuffed. Attached to the rear, right-hand side of the gambling machine were various removable implements such as a multitool and an old-fashioned label maker, both of which slotted neatly in grooves designed for them. (The label maker was marked with the numbers, 1, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 19, and others.) I was attaching a slotted screw-bit to the multitool (for some reason, it featured a low-quality, full-sized steak knife), removing other tools so that I could manipulate the screws using the short bit. At that point the seawater started to rise around us and I patted my left pants pocket, dismayed to find my mobile phone located there. The unseen others and I grabbed the gambling machine and scattered tools and rushed for a mound of mud behind us, at which point I saw at least two others, the dark-haired woman and a man, bathing in a pool of blood-red liquid to our left. (We became halfway submerged before reaching the mound, which caused me to fear for my mobile phone and plan for ways to dry it out using rice.) Once reaching higher ground, a blond-haired woman jumped carelessly into the aforementioned, gated spring, which now filled a deep basin of tan sandstone, the roof and one of the sidewalls of the cavern having disappeared. The dark-haired woman, still dripping with red fluid, entered the pool as well. When she resurfaced her hair was also blond. I turned to look at the far shore and reckoned it would take us at least an hour to swim over to it, the mudflats upon which we’d been sitting have been entirely filled up by the sea.

[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ]

sports venues renamed

Fans of America’s top sports franchises awoke today to find many of their parks bearing the names of new sponsors. Now, instead of referring to venue as Coors Field or Miller Park, fans can find delight in names such as Honest Henry’s Crack-Cocaine (a domestic venture) as well as the Durango Cartel’s Peruvian Flake and the Greater Asian Prosperity Sphere Gang’s Opium Poppy Paradise (both foreign ventures). Black market stash-boxes are being built in many major sports venues to so that attendees can pick up the illicit wares sold by the new sponsors, and injection-rooms staffed by licensed nurses are being installed in stadiums across America to allow heroin users a clean and safe place to shoot up. Since it’s nearly impossible to control how many units of alcohol a given fan will drink during a sporting event, there will be no effort to restrict how many puffs, shots, or snorts of a controlled substance said fan takes, either.

Critics of the new sponsors were quickly drowned out by millions of alcoholic sports fans, who argued that the normalization of alcohol abuse by leading sports franchises justifies the normalization of all other drugs, as well. Recently, roughly 33,000 Americans died of overdoses involving opioids, fewer than half of the roughly 88,000 Ynki who die routinely from alcohol abuse each year.

[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ]

haiku 25 Feb 2018

Stalking the warm halls
Each day filled with sleep and food
A house-cat’s life rocks

[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ]

haiku 22 Feb 2018

With a fool in charge
There’s no telling how brutal
Things might yet become

[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ]

haiku 20 Feb 2018

When fed well, with love
A paradise blooms within
From spine-base upward

[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ] ​

haiku 18 Feb 2018

Tunnels, trains, bright lights
Broadway, Houston, the Bowery
This place never sleeps.

[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ] ​

haiku 15 Feb 2018

With each rhythmic beat
The central muscle pumps life
Unguided, year-round

[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ]

haiku 13 Feb 2018

Changed to serve the rich
Its Constitution threadbare
The republic fails

[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ] ​

haiku 8 Feb 2018

Once its pillars fall
Self-destruction is consumed
By the fires of love

[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ]

haiku 6 Feb 2018

Gut lebt der Mensch da
Wo Freunde und Familie
Ja auch gedeihen

[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ] ​

haiku 4 Feb 2018

This land is fine, rich
Eggs, fish, vines, and wheat abound
Skraelings come - to trade?

[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ]

haiku 31 Jan 2018

A wee silent glade
Still and hushed but full of life
Immune to all threats

[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ] ​

haiku 30 Jan 2018

Drinking mist and sun
Eating but cast-off debris
The epiphyte thrives

[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ] ​

haiku 28 Jan 2018

Softly falling rain
A landscape cold, hushed, and still
Warmth returns too soon

[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ]

haiku 25 Jan 2018

Vast green rolling hills
Granite crags betwixt deep fjords
Alba - majestic

[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ]

haiku 23 Jan 2018

Its first rays break through
Basting the low clouds in gold
What a grand sunrise

[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ]

haiku 21 Jan 2018

Each small grass patch
Teems with endless, tiny lifeforms
A world of wonder

[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ]

esh x arc

sticker graffiti street art found 2016 in Boston, MA, that depicts crossed arrows, two snarling wolves, a necklace, and these decipherable alphanumerics: esh arc
[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ]

spie stacks spie

sticker graffiti street art found 2016 in Boston, MA, that features these decipherable alphanumerics: spie spie stacks spie; hello my name is
[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ]

tiger tentacle trainwreck

sticker graffiti street art found 2016 in Boston, MA, that depicts a tiger cub, grasping green tentacles, an old-fashioned scroll, and these decipherable alphanumerics: trainwreck
[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ]

haiku 18 Jan 2018

Some complex knot-work
Binding a standard collar
Full Windsor glory

[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ]

haiku 16 Jan 2017

Loud, bright cityscape
Hopes and spires reaching skyward
A long, slender isle[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ]

house of slaine by @belowpovertylevel @slainesworld

sticker graffiti street art [by artists @belowpovertylevel @slainesworld] found 2016 in Boston, MA, that depicts a three-leafed clover and these decipherable alphanumerics: bpla below poverty level Los Angeles; house of slaine; Boston
[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ]

dirty dek cactus

sticker graffiti street art found 2016 in Boston, MA, that depicts a cycloptic and moustachioed cactus as well as these decipherable alphanumerics: dirty dek
[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ]

paparazzi air fight

sticker graffiti street art found 2016 in Boston, MA, that depicts a man with dreadlocks jumping and these decipherable alphanumerics: paparazzi; fight
[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ]

haiku 11 Jan 2017

For tricking blind Hoth
The Liesmith was bound to rocks
A long, cruel torment

[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ] 

haiku 9 Jan 2018

Its crown scrapes the sky
On broad trunk man’s knowledge writ
Roots sunk deep, endless

[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ]

haiku 7 Jan 2018

Joyfully at ease
In furrows of childish glee
Bright and beautiful

[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ]

haiku 4 Jan 2018

Launch codes on old discs
Plus an old, crude narcissist
Equals extinction

[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ] 

haiku 2 Jan 2018

A yoga of rest
Mind and body unburdened
Per doctor’s orders

[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ]

haiku 31 Dec 2017

A fresh start beckons
From beyond tomorrow next
Change seldom lasts long

[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ] ​

haiku 28 Dec 2017

Squeezed, the poor masses
Sank into oblivion
Yearning to be free

[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ] ​

haiku 24 Dec 2017

German pagan lore
And, well, the winter solstice
Are season’s reason

[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ]

sweet-tooth actually diabetes

Contrary to popular belief, the delight with which local resident Horace J. Winston consumes sweets is not due to a sweet-tooth of yore. In fact, his endocrinological system - having been subjected to decades of frequent alcohol consumption combined with a sedentary lifestyle - is now struggling to adequately regulate Winston’s blood-glucose levels. Unless he makes drastic changes in his daily patterns and habits within the next couple of years, his condition will be exacerbated, and worsen.

On an average day, Horace consumes at least five beers in one sitting, two meals of primarily meats and cheeses; he drives nearly everywhere he must go, walking only a few miles cumulatively. (In secret, Winston knows something is amiss inside but chooses to blame it on the common cold or changes in the weather.)

No one in his circle of friends or relatives appears concerned about the Winston’s fate, however, since they are clueless to the signs of onsetting diabetes and themselves engaged heavily in both sloth and overindulgence. With health insurance priced out of his reach, Horace will also not be seeing a doctor, anytime soon.

[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ] ​

haiku 19 Dec 2017

A house demolished
From the inside cannot stand
Then - desolation

[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ] ​

haiku 17 Dec 2017

Soaring high aloft
Wingtips bent upward, lifting
Quick, the falcon drops

[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ] 

dreamstate writing 14 Dec 2017

I was in a throng of other people all queueing for to meet a powerful goddess. Beyond the sunken earthen trench in which we stood waiting lay snow on frozen ground. Set into the walls of the trench every few meters were crude cubbyholes fashioned out of unfinished pine logs, some of which I recognized as places I’ve slept rough. To our right and stretching above us reached a tall building clad in dark marble panels. As we stepped forward to be received we passed by a number of glass-doored rooms recently emptied of their inhabitants.

When it was finally my turn to be judged, the goddess swirled around me, prodding at my various bits and weighing my soul against Truth. From her back and the top of her head appeared to rise glimmering tendrils of an infinite, invisible energy. In the room with us were dozens of watching people, the formerly queueing multitudes. The goddess noted my progress in many areas, challenging me to defend my case to become bodhisattva. I pointed out the steps I’ve made toward living a life of virtue and compassion but was found lacking, and shown the door.

I returned briefly to consciousness (discovering there a full and pressing bladder), then fell back asleep. The dreaming continued in a vast subterranean room (which, too, was paneled with slabs of dark marble) where I and a number of others were searching for a propellered flying boat that had been lost at sea. Analyzing satellite photographs and old maps we were scouring the wind-swept seas. From time to time I would also put my ear to a staticky handheld radio, hoping to detect a clue. Out of the white noise lept a single word, one which caused excitement yet confusion among the dozen-odd people individuals there: America.

[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ] ​

haiku 12 Dec 2017

Borne on strands of light
Linking far east to near west
Grand, global network

[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ] ​

haiku 10 Dec 2017

Valuable bits
Linked to gold, buried in code
Real worth, not fiat

(For more information about cryptocurrencies, consider reading this guide provided by Bankrate, Inc.)

[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ]

haiku 7 Dec 2017

Once well-established
Routines cannot be shaken
By earthly forces

[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ]

tardigrade cosmonaut honored

During a brief ceremony held in a former outdoor smoking shelter behind the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pastor Tina, CA, scientists preparing for an impending launch stood still during a moment of silence ahead of the upcoming launch of a hearty tardigrade. Selected from a group of other hypsibius gagarinorum, the tiny traveler, like intrepid Laika before it, was chosen due to a proven ability to survive in harsh conditions such as extreme cold and prolonged deprivation. Exploiting the animal’s natural cryptobiosis, or suspended metabolism, gives NASA scientists hope that at least one hypsibius gagarinorum tun will reach another star system, most likely the cluster humans call Alpha Centauri.

[ americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan ]