The Body Electric: Day Two

A // W // F

Yesterday. 

I am running errands.  Running with my mind cluttered by Christmas and all its trappings.

And so, on a whim, I peel off I-581 and take the exit into downtown.  Park just under the pedestrian bridge, across the tracks from the art museum.

I take a long breath, and cross over.

*

Inside the museum, a wide staircase of glass soars to the second floor.  Above that, something is shimmering, suspended in the light of the atrium.  

It hovers — diaphanous as a moth’s wing, but massive — big as a ship’s sails.

And the colors … oh, so many colors.

*

I follow my eyes up the long flight of stairs.

*

When I get to the top, I stand there staring around me … bathed in rainbow light:

notfadeaway1

The work that hovers above me — I’m not sure what to call it — is Rachel B. Hayes’ Not Fade Away, a kind of giant patchwork quilt made of translucent fabric.  Floating there with the vista of the city behind it, it looks like a series of stained glass windows loosed from the rigid context of their frames — soaring upward, suddenly fluid and free.  

*

I stand there for awhile.  I try to feel that freedom with my eyes, but also with my light-drenched skin.  And I listen, in the quiet, for whatever voice might speak.

Or not speak.

*

This is what the silence sounds like:

notfadeaway2

It’s a language my body understands. ❤

19 Comments

  1. Speaking of running errands. Conversation with my wife, as I finally got up off my sick-sofa:
    Me:”Right, I’m doing this. AWF has inspired me. I need to start exercising and working on my fitness levels.”
    Wife:”What about your back? Shouldn’t you wait a while?”
    Me:”No, I’m fine. Nobody achieved anything by waiting.”
    Wife:”You are fine as you are. You don’t need to start running.”
    Me:”I do. I need to build myself up. It will give me energy and motivate me. I’m getting out there, getting my heart pumping, going to start pounding those streets as part of my new daily routine. Nothing can stop me once I’ve put my mind to it. You will see the new me.”
    Wife:”They said it’s going to rain.”
    Me:”Maybe tomorrow then.”

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    1. Isn’t that the truth? I think I need to make it a regular habit to just drop by the museum whenever I need to get out of my own head and take a breath.

      I prefer to spend hours there, but it’s also nice to drop by and just take it a little piece of it at once. 🙂

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