Monday June 25th, 2012

The exercise:

Write about something that is: endless.

Spent most of the morning picking strawberries in the pouring rain. Good times. This is June, right? In Osoyoos? Yes?

Well then, could someone please inform the weather?

Mine:

The road appears to end, just a few, lumbering steps ahead. There is nothing beyond that point except for a complete, total darkness. No sounds escape from it, no scents, no life.

Upon reaching this seeming end point, everything goes black, as expected. There is a time of waiting, its length unmeasurable. Eternity beckons, but movement is impossible. There is no going forward or back, there is only this one place and nothing more.

At length a voice is heard, giving instructions and encouragement. Then a pinprick of light slices through the murk and begins to grow larger. It draws nearer, with increasing warmth and the rumbling of an oncoming storm.

It passes through and around, leaving a new road in its wake. With no alternative presenting itself, the endless journey continues once more.

6 comments:

Greg said...

Somebody must be raindancing up your way then! Should we all club together to buy you a golf umbrella to shelter under while you harvest ;-)
I quite like how you capture the essence of endlessness in a single moment like that, the transition between one road and the next. It feels like a metaphor for something, but I'm a bit tired for figuring out what at the moment.

Endless
Dr. Traffic Warden looked at the purple puzzle box in his hook hands and frowned. For a moment there it has felt like he was someone else, somewhere else. He looked up; Lovely Rita, Meter Maid was watching him from the doorway.
"It's a puzzle box," she said tartly, "and I can see it's got you puzzled. By the way, if you keep sitting there any longer I'm going to have to give you a ticket for immobility."
"The box is endless," said Dr. Traffic Warden, a hint of wonder in his voice. "If you look at it closely enough you can see that the inside goes on forever."
"That's because human puzzlement is endless," said Lovely Rita. "Look, are we going to get out there and combat parking offences, or are you going to sit here all day staring at that thing?"
"Where's the rest of the team?" Dr. Traffic Warden reached up to scratch his nose, remembering just in time that scratching with hook hands just pulled bits of his flesh off.
"Red Lightbulb is off stopping traffic updown, the Amber Gambler is limiting accidents outside the hospital, and Green is... well, you know Green."
"Some things never change," thought Dr. Traffic Warden, and then he realised that he'd thought those words in a voice that wasn't his own.
"It goes forever, you know," he said gesturing at the box. "It's like there's an endless number of worlds inside it."

Cathryn Leigh said...

A metephore for life, imo. :}

For me there are all sorts of endless things - my first thought was about the GIrlScout Frendship song:

Make new friends but keep the old
One is silver and the other’s gold
A circle’s round, it has no end
That’s how long I’ll be your friend

And then after reading Greg's piece the song from Lamb Chops (some kids show came to mind:

This is the song that never ends, yes it goes on and on my friend.
Some people started singing it, not knowing what it was
And they’ll continue singing it forever just because
This is the song that never ends...

And of course now that that's stuck in my head (but hopefully not yours) I bid you adue as I go out into the continuing world where laundry and dishes and cleaning must always be done, but someone... :}

Marc said...

Greg - well, I was writing it with reincarnation in my mind.

Ha, I knew you wouldn't be able to resist playing with that idea at least a little bit more. Clever way to explore an alternate reality :D

Cathryn - okay, now I need to listen to a whole bunch of other music to avoid trying to fall asleep with that song running through my head on endless repeat...

Anonymous said...

cycles
in, out, in, out
ebb, flow
expand, contract
live, die, live, die
stuck like a marble on a Moebius strip
or the infinite regressions of a Mandelbrot Set
jumping from one existence to the next
my soul's travels
feel endless

Unknown said...

Endless
Have you ever felt the desperation of a seemingly endless wait?
Where the excitement of the anticipated moment continues to build,
But the date has been predetermined so there is no use wishing it were otherwise?
July 24th is the date, however the hour is known; a book is the catalyst,
The last book, the summation of a series, last we will ever know of Evie.
I await Endlessly.

Marc said...

Writebite - that's a wonderful companion piece to mine :)

Morrigan - I can appreciate that sentiment, I've felt that way many a time.