The Domain Of...

Making a domain is a matter of extending one influence evenly throughout a certain tract of space. Starting with a topographically homogeneous area is helpful but not necessary; establishing political sovereignty is helpful if troublesome; minting a new currency is helpful, though not always practical. Re-making the terrain into the shape of one face is satisfying in the short term, but will likely prove counterproductive with time (a face is liable to be mis-attributed).

To start making a domain, incarnate a miniature of the desired domain; that miniature will incorporate all salient features of the domain-to-be and serve as a ready reference for anyone inquiring as to those features. It could be a uniform, with badges; a carved monument; or a reasonably small scale model. It must in any case be on public display.

Next, travel through the planned domain and remove any elements outside of the miniature. Replace those elements by expanding approved elements.

Post signs around the periphery: "This is the domain of ..."

Barn

This was a barn I often visited.

On the left is the ground floor. The wide aperture is where the truck comes in. Just beyond that is where the motorcycle is kept. Both of those spaces are connected to the workshop: table saw, jigsaw, clamps, a radio. There are also stairs with some boxes underneath them. Somewhere in there is a riding mower (not a tractor).



The loft is on the right. It is one open space filled with boxes full of photographs, magazines, and record albums. In front is a small opening for swinging your legs out of. From there you can look over the driveway and the road beyond.

Enlarge

Many persons with their faces along the edge of the frame. By "frame", I mean window.

Why then can they not sleep?

They can't sleep because they are looking out from the window.

...

"I ask you to enlarge the potentate to threaten me boldly." I wrote that down, and asked in the morning what it meant. Well. A bald statement about the prostate?

...

Two ways to enlarge:

-to take an envelope, cut it in pieces, and pry apart the glued edges

-to find a slider that is labeled "enlarge".

...

A disagreement when we had to paint the house. We could either paint it white, and hope for the best; or use off-white and have done with it.

...

Vote on a topic. Your choices are: "The Significance of an Upside-Down Cross", "Utility Knife", "Characteristic Indianapolis", "Rigorous Matter of Part-Wholes", and "A Doge for Two Deacons".

...

Q: Steps it's too late to walk up?
A: An Olympic podium

...

YBDF staffer Joanie opts for "Charateristic Indianapolis"; she doesn't have a single picture to think with in this case. P.J.'s taste runs to "Utility Knife". Rick?...OK, another vote for "Utility Knife". Judith played in a band in her teens and would like to hear more about "The Significance of an Upside-Down Cross". What's a deacon? I'd like "A Doge for Two Deacons".

...

11 things in a row: a house, flowers, a lawn, septic tank, a lawn, rail fence, a lawn, pear tree, a lawn, patio, a house.

...

Q: How do you sleep on top of a pear tree?
A: I'm a bird

Strum And Drum

1.
A common dream--to take up instruments without amplification, and take them to an area void of any need for entertainment, and play music of scrupulous wholeness with its assumed surroundings. Some people venture to sing songs about the nature they perceive, and some essay further, to play trees, grass, and stones. They may rhythmically drop stones in differing depths of water, and tell themselves that a) they are re-enacting a first utterance of human music, b) they are re-enacting the artificial productions of over-bred instruments in a properly primary setting, c) they are embodying through gestures of intentional vagueness a persona redolent to other persons of wholeness, wisdom, and native genius.

2.
The recordings of these activities could be constructed so as to evoke hallowed friendship, sojourns in total communion of understanding; the tape recorder is something of a shy raccoon cocking its head ingenuously at the singular endeavors of the artists.

Then again, the practice could serve as a neat tag and audible badge for a branded group or family of artists.

The Sunlit Hospital

Nature improves and heals the human body. A shaft of sunlight, provided it be distinct, is a healing vector. To obtain consistent shafting, a grove of ample dimensions must be cleared in established forest.

A clear, grassy path of commodious width is made, to lead to a new clearing sprinkled with tall elms. The base plane is composed of a mix of innocuous grasses, fragrant herbs, and florets that dissipate lightly under the heel. One hears throughout the surrounding forest light rustlings and scamperings; this is the sound of ministering priests gathering the necessary ingredients for their poultices, mustards, tisanes, and decoctions. One by one, the priests arrive from the shadows, and return to their pots and teak tables to sort, wash, and stir; when their labors are complete, they summon nurses to administer the arrived-upon herbal aid.

The patients are borne in on canvas biers, then fitted upon stainless-steel armatures that have been driven into the ground at convenient intervals. They gently moan and flirt with great washes of fever, their swathed bodies cool and dappled, until such time as the prescribed cure begins to take hold. They are then issued a single crutch and allowed to depart with soft expressions of gratitude back along the cut path.

"What Means The World To You?"

The world is round and ringed with reference. There are any number of rings to place around it. Each ring holds an index, each at a different scale. Each ring tells you something different about the world.

The world is a choice of the objects that constitute it. If you can form a class of real objects, you have defined the world (for the moment). I see that the world is maple trees, and what interferes with maple trees.

The world was meant to be an arrow but started to bristle too much with feathers. That is, it was sent straightforwardly through time but became distracted with appearances.

The world is a floor laid perpendicular to a wall. You are more akin to the wall than the world.

You can leave the world with some difficulty. Or, your exit is the world's expansion.