Jetting from jacuzzi walls, small pockets of air rise and escape to the pool’s steamy surface in mini geodesic domes before being released back into the atmosphere. Forming, disappearing, and replaced within mere seconds, each half-dome spends its short and insignificant existence among others of its kind…..above the water but below the sky. Large and small, slow and hurried, alone and in clusters, the clear igloos burst forth in abundant succession….players on the clear blue molecular stage of change…and impermanence.
In this world, free will does not exist….and the inhabitants possess no voice of their own. They are….but mere mimes of random motion and yet, simultaneously, miracles of marvel and intrigue. For, to the observer, each vessel speaks volumes…as floating fragilities free of thoughts and fears, pain and tears, and a million other prisons found in bigger worlds. And what appear to be, upon first glance, closed and self-contained capsules of solitary confinement…..are immediately and instantly recognized as somehow social in their behavior and dare one say, bubbling with life?
And so, the concept of simple reveals itself….soon enough….in these half-circle singular subjects and causal communications. Singular, as opposed to single…for they are not alone, but find each other’s remarkability amid the chaos. Somehow seeing without eyes….they meet, in ways various and vast. Gathering in groups and dancing around prospective partners….some touching timidly at first, taking their time to intertwine, while others are drawn to each other in one quick, dramatic, and equal pull from across the pond….becoming one in an instant when their worlds collide. And more still, are those remaining in one place, attracting others to them….while a few merely absorb shyer subjects into their worlds. But rare is the island on this water world where time spent together is tantamount to existence and moments are paramount to memory…and the nagging need for more.
But power also plays a peculiar part in such a world and its hand holds the fate of this affair…which readily resolves with the push of a button…the silencing of a humming motor….and dying of an incandescent light. The half-sphere inhabitants….placed on pause….won’t know the difference. But, their dance will stop and the play will come to an end. Will you applaud…and remember? Will you dance your own dance, find the remarkable amid chaos, and dare to join with another? Will you simply exist….in the moment….before your own release back into the air?
Or will you waste your time trying to do more…trying to swim, be significant, and completely miss the opportunity given to float….feel the depth of the sea and gaze into the great expanse of the sky before your play, too, comes to an end?
Jeanie Unbottled 