Poppy Delirium
The unexpected happens. Sunday, very early morning of June 5, a slow rain is setting in. Plants and earth get a real soak. Literally heavenly. My bedroom fills with gentle rain-music, sprinkling smiles into my dreams. Nestled under the grand oaks, I named this tiny cottage Paraiso. Later in the morning, the garden is enveloped in moist air and thick fog. As if being in a different country, I meander the mysterious and wet world – in wonder, in awe. The moss and lichen on the trees is vibrating, and humming an ecstatic tune. The nasturtiums and poppies all bowed down, in quiet reverie. Wetness and moisture, what blessings. A quite unusual June Sunday here in the Bay Area. One third of an inch of rain fell, almost half an inch up here in Karinaland.
Today, a couple of days later, the poppies are back up, new buds popping open, crinkly red petals unfolding their red delirium, bees know all about it. Being among them, a calm delight blooms in me, too – Entzücken. The flowers’ wondrous effect, I call it Poppy Delirium. Please understand, there is no opium, no drugs, ingesting of pills, powder or tea involved here. I grew up with summers full of red poppies and blue cornflowers along the borders of the fields: rote Mohnblumen und blaue Kornblumen. Altered states become available when the senses open and mind calms. How sensitive are we to the wonder all around us? Once we slow down, all is beauty. Do you remember the child being in awe?
Letting my poppyseed pods dry on their long stalks and then go to seed, has the red delight come back now for years. Sometimes I collect and sprinkle the seeds in late winter. I could bake a poppyseed cake, but not the German or Eastern European kind where the pastries are filled with a thick black poppyseed paste. My mother made the best poppyseed cake, a favorite of mine, and Papa…
even though they never fully capture Poppy Delirium
I appreciate very much what you write and the photos has the effect on me of a reverie. Entzucken, Poppy Delirium. What you write is so true about the experience of the world when senses open and the mind is calm and no hallucinogens natural or otherwise needed to be taken. It is quite wonderful your ability to enter this state of being and remind me of how that is a truer deeper experience of life.
ReplyDeleteI am visiting with my parents in the Boston area and the opening of senses feels especially vulnerable. I walk with my mother along paths through the woods and she seems to rush - she likes to wear earphones and listen to audiobooks while she walks, but today she is not wearing them because she is walking with me. She speaks to me about the people in her life. I simply cannot hold conversation for the sound of the wind rushing through the leaves. The wind has always captivated me, sometimes dangerously so, and I love the motion it brings and the possibilities of otherness that it simply breathes into my life. How could I not pay attention to the wind? And to the chipmunks hopping off in every direction; the turtles moving just below the surface of the brook water and creating gentle swirls in the algae; the turkeys ambling by with their babies; the branches swaying. Then my mother speaks and I realize she does not seem to notice the wind or the chipmunks, turtles, water, algae, turkeys, branches... and something in me threatens to close. Must I choose between openness and humanity? Aren't there other humans who continue to listen despite capitalism's numbing force? I read your writings and am instantly joyful, Karina... among other reasons, I am so glad to know someone who listens so deeply. I feel your listening resonate with my nervous system, giving me the courage to continue to open to the world...
ReplyDeleteyes yes listening open open...
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