Tag: Yanagi Studios

Not Quite Strangers on a Train

~ Yanagi Studios

Two not quite strangers on the same underground train
hands grab either the pole or loop through the handgrip

It’s an unplanned hook-up, unexpected and not even one
previously fantasied about by either party
after all he might well have a bright future ahead but now he’s
washing dishes, and several years younger, so there’s not
much she would have found interesting until…

Another empty wintry night proves one too many and she’s still waiting
on a married man’s promise, this night is already warmed by the intoxication
of after-work drinks, an informal farewell, as she sets her sights on another blank chapter

The train, the moonlight, the coldness, the dead eyes of the commuters as they pass by,
the cries of animals, somehow it all feels detached from the world they both know
one populated by pressures and ambitions, offices, coffee shops, phone calls from relatives

A moment suspended in time, it doesn’t know of yesterday nor tomorrow nor anything else stretching further out into the void on either side
a unique moment in time exists in its own space carved out and separated from the external continuity of life
it exists as part of the whole but also in its own self-contained atmosphere
and in that there is a mysterious quality, a feeling that in that moment,
I didn’t have to be me, you didn’t have to be you,
we can each be any character we choose in any story we choose When it’s all said and done, the cycle will continue and life will march on
unmoved by whatever we may have to say about it

Cheerful Cynic

~ Yanagi Studios

The world is too small, we hide the violence and lust in plain sight
the human life is too short, for moments wasted in a labyrinth of thought
there’s no progress made in these false epiphanies
the cheerful cynic has the secret to pain relief

Time crumbles away, a monument so brittle, sensitive like exposed flesh

It’s there somewhere on the horizon, that feeling you’re chasing, that peace you’re reaching for
lonely eyes grow accustomed to the colour of a false dawn
but it’s there, you feel it, the serenity your dreams and fantasies promise

Time crumbles away, broken down like old bones and joints, worn out like the elasticity of the skin

I don’t feel much like forgiving, I’m stubborn enough to ignore all sages and declare I want reparations
you do not feel sorry for a tyrant when they grow old and toothless, you remember the hurt they caused when they had the power to do so
defying all the sages in holding grudges tight
and yet it’s true that pain etches itself in the memory, an aging bully or abuser is not cute nor an object of sympathy

Time crumbles away, and the outer layers of your retreating ego dissolve, exposing a wounded spirit
now able to breathe, to grow, discover and spread wings, find a purpose
shedding your dead skin clears a path, lightens your burden

It’s somewhere out there, in the distance, outside of the animal mind illusions
somewhere, that glory, that greatness, that peace, that love
just beyond all the trappings of the organic life game
whether it’s zen, whether it’s biocentric, whether it’s religious, spiritual or transcendent and emotional, either way it’s freedom

Time crumbles away, it cannot be reconstructed from those broken shards, they will only form something new, there is no restoring that sticks, kid

This Temple’s Not Too Bad

~ Yanagi Studios

One monk had been here for years
living in the temple, meditating,
after all that still angry, bitter, jealous

A new young buck shows up
after a few months the cunt’s levitating,
having 1 hour orgasms, the whole 9 yards

I didn’t know whether I wanted to hit him or fuck him
I mean the monk didn’t know whether he wanted to
hit him or fuck him

I, no the monk, he throws a rock into the still waters
with petulance
the waters ripple and he sighs, thinking to himself
‘this isn’t too bad, it’s no hell-scape, you’re out of the wars for now’

Can’t Halt

~ Yanagi Studios

By T. Caterer

I finally left, bags packed, soul on charge on the way
there were spiders there too, ah well, they’re in the basements
and in the wild places, they’re possible to avoid

The smiles of the young; I feel a protective love for them
should I be sad, melancholic, that I can’t halt all the pain that comes
later on?

But I know from my own sorrows, that the attempt to halt
the natural progression, the march of time,
that breeds the darker pain

So just celebrate their wonder now,
they’re fresh from the other side
they’re so close to the gods
their time now in that space is fleeting
and it’s wonderful

The pains that come will birth strange new beauties
our world’s god is an artist
they have mingled shadows in the mix
to make the brighter joys and the deeper peace
they knew how to construct their palette

It’s a good thing we can halt nothing
enjoy this time now
it is fleeting, that is its gift
the tears are not from sorrow
it’s a stranger game than that
I’m grateful for it

The Bird in the Cage

~ Yanagi Studios

By Thomas Caterer

The bird in the cage does not sing
The gaoler’s claws scrape the bars
they want to elicit a tune
their anger rises, for they see the bird
as a possession, a thing
not a living being

The gaoler know others have heard its song
when it flew from tree to tree
The gaoler is full of anger and envy
they reach for the scissors
they’ll teach that ungrateful bird a lesson
that little shit will pay

The cage door opens
The claws reach in
The bird shoots out to freedom
The claws swipe uselessly
slashing at air

The uncaged bird flies free
it’s overjoyed to find its wings are unclipped
despite the gaoler’s attempts
it takes to the skies
it sings its song
which the gaoler will never hear

Visualising 4-Dimensional Objects

~ Yanagi Studios

By A. O. Wallat

Bath Time Thoughts #2 – Visualising 4-Dimensional Objects. Original Audioplay first appeared on http://www.holtandwallt.com

[Wallt] Good evening. Turn on the taps, light some candles, test the temperature with your elbows and dip your toes in the bath as you let your mind dip out, just for a moment, for another episode of bath time thoughts.

This time you won’t be alone in the bath with me. We are joined by..uh…

[Hector] ‘ector.

[Wallt] Yes, quite right. As the heat slowly cooks your brain, Hector and I will guide you through     the obscure task of visualising four dimensional objects.

[Hector] So please consider the following: a rambling analogy to help us look at experiences of time.

[Wallt] ‘ector, why don’t you ‘op in?

[Hector] ‘hop, what is ‘op? Oh, is there space?

[Wallt] Why yes of course, let me just…

[Hector] Ah, merci. Let me start again. Putin Right, Merde. Supposed we live in a place with 4 dimensions. How do you perceive a 4 dimensional object? Right now we are in the bath, we are 3D people sitting in a 3D shape but there is time too, the fourth dimension. As time passes, the candles melt, change shape and we change positions. 4 Dimensions, do you agree?

[Wallt] Yes.

[Hector] Well, what does this look like to someone who say, lives only in 3 dimensions?

[Wallt] This? What me and you in a 3D bath, with time passing?

[Hector] Yes with time passing, this is important. You me, drinking a little champagne, moving left and right, not staying the same at all. How does it look to a person who is frozen in time, who cannot perceive time…at all, someone who exists in 3 dimensions only.

[Wallt] I don’t know where to start.

[Hector] Right, exactly. Well let us pretend our person is this cube of soap. Our little person does not know when or where to start.

[Wallt] OK, so the closest analogy I can come up with is to consider this little person is playing the same game. He says he lives in 3 dimensions, and he tries to consider what life is like for a 2 dimensional person who is trying to think of 3D life.

[Hector] Bien, very good. Muah (kisses). So this little person, our 3D soap person, we will say is an ‘appy cube?

[Wallt] Happy.

[Hector] Yes, ‘appy. And from the candle, light shines a light on him – don’t forget he is a cube. What does he see?

[Wallt] Well, he sees a shadow…and the shadow is an object the 2D person can comprehend. Let’s call them paper.

[Hector] Non, non, I mean, yes, there is a shadow, but let’s call the 2D person wafer. Paper and bath is not good. And wafer is wafer thin… eh?

[Wallt] OK, so wafer understands a shadow but doesn’t know the true form behind the shadow.

[Hector] Very good, uh, you had some practice eh? Now. Tell me, what shape is the shadow of the cube?

[Wallt] Square?

[Hector] Yes, but what if the angle of light, is changed – maybe the candle melts a little?

[Wallt] Rectangle, rhombus, parallelogram, are there others? I honestly don’t know, could you even form a triangle from a particular angle. I guess it depends on the position of light.

[Hector] So what does this mean?

[Hector] Well, I tell you, some oddities are notable.

First: That any 3D object we perceive is the shadow of its 4D self. Just like our little sentient 2D wafer sees the 2D shadow of the 3D cube. We see 3D shapes but they are the shadows of 4D objects.

Second point: One seemingly 3D object can appear totally different in the 2D world depending on the angle of light. Maybe the shadow is square, maybe parallelogram.

[Wallt] Then, this suggests that the 4D versions of ourselves are constant, but… the 3D self changes depending on the viewing angle or the position of light?

Hector] And, in our case, it is not light that changes the viewing angle but time.

[Hector] I am pleased, you are a good bath time thinker, my friend. So then, let’s take a wristwatch as an example. In our world, before dawn, the watch is not even a thing. It is little pieces of plastic and metal in a primordial soup called the earth. As light breaks, the watch is assembled. At midday, where the light is highest, it is turned on, a fully functional wristwatch. Then as the sun sets, the strap breaks, at night it is a dead battery and thrown into recycling and incinerated. Heated particles dashed to the atmosphere.

But in the 4D world, it is constant. Yes it was on for a while, when it had a little electricity flowing, then off. Yes it was nothing but separated particles, then whole, then separated particles.

[Wallt] But, in the 4D world, you are saying, does that make any difference – that change in time is a moving shadow?

[Wallt] Does this account for ageing? Or are you saying that people, or in fact all living things are fundamentally the same unchanging objects and though the light moves at the same time for all, depending on their experience of the position and angle of light, they each appear different and then that causes a different shape to be seen?

[Hector] Oui, oui oui. This is what I like to think about.

[Wallt] But what if you have two sources of light and 1 cube?

[Hector] Then there are 2 shadows.

[Wallt] Well, in the analogy, what does that mean?

[Hector] Je ne sais pas. I don’t know.

[Wallt] Well what if you have a shadow that exists across different dimensions, in other words the shadow lands on a corner where the wall and floor meet – a shadow both horizontal and vertical at the same time.

[Hector] What the hell does that mean?

[Wallt] I don’t know…Also, what if you have 2 cubes of different sizes (one large, one small) on the same axle and a shadow rests on the face of the axel bound cubes. If the axles spin at the same rate, but much more of the smaller cube is covered by the shadow than the large cube, do the shadows on both cubes move at different rates? Do the shadows change shape at different rates?

[Hector] What does it mean if there are thousands of cubes on the same axle causing shadows on their neighbours?

[Hector] I guess you can see that the analogy seems to explode into a disorienting array of possibilities and unfathomable… how you say… nonsense.

[Wallt] Is any of this useful to anyone?

[Hector] I mean it is fun, no? But I don’t know if the people in the physics world know how many dimensions there truly are in “reality”.

[Wallt] Yes, do they know or is it predicted that there are 11 or 12 dimensions beyond a shadow of a doubt or is it debatable?

[Hector] Are analogies worth anything?

[Wallt] I mean, what if there are infinite points of light shining from every conceivable direction?

[Hector] Well, uhh in this case does the object even have a shadow?

[Wallt]What if you have a pane of glass between the cube and the floor so that the shadow appears twice? Does that mean anything?

[Hector] I think, all this casts, is severe doubt, on the efficacies of analogies.

[Wallt] Mmm…

[Hector] That analogies are highly deceptive–

[Wallt] Or that we are highly suggestible depending on how the story is formulated.

[Wallt]

[Hector]

Please, could anyone shed some light on this?

To Cling is to Break, To Cage is to Steal

~ Yanagi Studios

By Thomas Caterer

Love is letting go
In the act you know
You realise this
The possessive and jealous will deny this
They’ll reject this truth for as long as they remain
steeped in envy and continue clinging
They will deny it with their death rattles
as they expire kicking and screaming

In your pain or from empathy you pray
to whoever’s listening
Any god will do when you’re not proud
Love is empowering someone
so they don’t need you
Love is helping someone’s freedom grow
Love is letting go
Relinquish and then you know

We need to realise those that cage birds,
clip their wings
They don’t love
If they say they do
Know it’s false even if they
convince themselves they don’t know
Take away their blades and cages
Leave them with nothing

Revenge Obligations Eat Themselves and Yet Always Hunger

~ Yanagi Studios

By Thomas Caterer

You rape my daughter
First blood is spilled
So I kill your son

It’s unending slaughter
The beast’s stomach’s never filled
A vengeful cycle’s never done

Small mouths, big guts
hungry ghosts’ despair
a curse brought on by unchecked greed

Hands twist in chains leaving deep cuts
no spirit or soul left here to repair
no meat left on the bone, no way for your children to feed

Blessings and Curses

~ Yanagi Studios

By Thomas Caterer

The young who fear old age are cursed
The old who envy the young are cursed

The old who yearn to be replaced and wish
power, freedom, and joy to the young
their burdens are light, and they go
not unhappily to their graves
they welcome the dark with smiles

The old who fear the end
are resentful of those who took different paths
jealous of the new wave of life meant to replace them
they writhe, and they kick, and they scream
their faces contort with rage, and their mouths foam

They spat at and cursed those who were different
but they were made to feed worms like all those
they looked down upon
their burdens are crippling

The old who guided and healed
Liberated and truly loved
not a mockery of love, but truly did
who told truths when it was hard
rather than lies when it was easy
their joints may ache
their backs may play up
but they are not so attached now
to the material they borrowed
they feel at peace
and are reunited with transition
embracing it in mutual affection
like seeing an old friend again after so long

The young who fear old age are cursed
but they have time to lift it for themselves
and perhaps for others who see them

Down the Well

~ Yanagi Studios

By Thomas Caterer

How can I let go off anger and hate?
I know they are poison
Yet I still drink from the well

How can I stop?
Stop this unrelenting stream
of images; memories and imagined possible hurts
of imagined possible future scenarios

The heat rises, and the blood boils
I’m ruining myself
Do these visions come unbidden?
Do I not have power to turn away?

Is it true I could wake up anytime I want
Yet why don’t I?
Why would I not want to wake up from this?

I can scrunch up my eyes tight
Stare into the back of my eyelids
Hold my breath in silence
When I open them I’m still here
In this well
Do I not want to be free of it?
I’m sure I do