As I walk past the fountain at the center of Chavez Park, glancing idly at the various food-tents set up for the Wednesday farmer's market, I hear the following sentence; spoken slowly and clearly enunciated in a low, gravelly voice and ominous tone:
"Piece... by... piece. I'll fucking eat it."
For a second I just keep walking; pretending not to have heard anything. From the tone of the speaker I've inferred that his intention is to express a threat rather than actual hunger.
Curiosity gets the better of me, though. I stop and look to my left - the direction of the voice - and meet the direct, challenging gaze of a short, stubbly-faced, wild-eyed man with salt-and-pepper hair. The area we are standing is quite crowded, but it seems like those words were for me. We're standing about 10 feet apart. I don't avert my eyes, and can read in his that this in itself was the challenge. Now his expression softens - challenge passed - and he continues:
"I'll cook it to perfection, too"
A question pops into my mind, so I say it out loud right away before Better Judgement stops sleeping on the job.
"Who is Gary Vice?"
The man furrows his brow, looking a little stunned. He thinks about it for a couple seconds. His face begins to register frustration - I passed his challenge, and now he's coming up empty on mine.
"Man, the fuck should I know. Gary Vice?"
"Yeah," I say. "That's okay, though. Have a good one."
I turn and continue walking. Behind me, I hear "Piece by piece, Gary."
"Piece... by... piece. I'll fucking eat it."
For a second I just keep walking; pretending not to have heard anything. From the tone of the speaker I've inferred that his intention is to express a threat rather than actual hunger.
Curiosity gets the better of me, though. I stop and look to my left - the direction of the voice - and meet the direct, challenging gaze of a short, stubbly-faced, wild-eyed man with salt-and-pepper hair. The area we are standing is quite crowded, but it seems like those words were for me. We're standing about 10 feet apart. I don't avert my eyes, and can read in his that this in itself was the challenge. Now his expression softens - challenge passed - and he continues:
"I'll cook it to perfection, too"
A question pops into my mind, so I say it out loud right away before Better Judgement stops sleeping on the job.
"Who is Gary Vice?"
The man furrows his brow, looking a little stunned. He thinks about it for a couple seconds. His face begins to register frustration - I passed his challenge, and now he's coming up empty on mine.
"Man, the fuck should I know. Gary Vice?"
"Yeah," I say. "That's okay, though. Have a good one."
I turn and continue walking. Behind me, I hear "Piece by piece, Gary."
I think it's great that you had a Gary dream Part II. It makes sense being that you continued to think about him after you dreamed about him the first time.
ReplyDeleteWhen you described the wild eyed man with salt and pepper hair, I immediately knew it was you. I don't think of you as small. I wonder what the significance of that is. Perhaps it's just a separation of someone who is not you but yet is you.
What do you make of it all?
I believe that there is one consciousness that permeates all life, and that some of it seeps into a vessel. By the time this consciousness learns to speak through the vessel, it's become convinced that it IS the vessel which houses it. The illusion of separate-ness. So, yeah, I guess that this man I encountered in the park yesterday is not me and yet is me, as you stated.
ReplyDeleteDavid Bowie actually sang a song on this topic in one of the strangest dreams I had while in Sacramento. Soon I'll be posting these dreams, but they've kind of turned into a novella and I've become somewhat obsessed with editing and clarifying the material.
ReplyDeleteActually, I don't think it was so much David Bowie as it was an Archetypal Energy who borrowed the character of David Bowie, as this character was well-suited for the role.
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ReplyDeleteYour first comment in particular is so interesting to me. It sounds like you could write so much about that concept.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised you so often remember your dreams. When I have dreams I usually remember them in great detail. I usually have to write them down because when I'm getting on with my day, I forget most of it. Do you know why that happens? Do you remember your dreams in detail when you wake?
I go through long spurts where I have dreams (or rather remember my dreams) consistently, every night. Or I'll have several dreams that I'll remember in one night. Then my mind settles down for a while.
Do you experience lucid dreams? I often do, but all of my lucid dreams are bad dreams. At a certain point I realize; hey this is a bad dream, I can stop this if I want to.