The Free Radical

I had this instrumental song I’d written kicking around for years that always reminded me of the clumsy flight of butterflies. I finally shot some video footage that I thought might link up appropriately. Then I wrote a poem welding the two together. The result is the following presentation… perhaps my first serious foray into the visual arts.

Butterfly Orgies and Meandering Ants from Niels Kunze on Vimeo.

Our forest tale–
the less obvious trail–
wrests clear meaning from chance,
While our thoughts are mere forgeries
among butterfly orgies…
and well… meandering ants…

Yesterday’s fat jester
stands under tomorrow,
atop broad umbrellas
of flowering yarrow.
Such a bright fella
to beg, steal or borrow
Nature’s magical gift:
To order sheer chaos–
the impossible payoff–
and still find grace
in the energy shift.

Awkward master of flight
and odd syncopation,
Patterning the light… again
for novel transformations…
with us all… as one… again.
Another self forgotten–
a belly-crawling glutton
whose mind was well cocooned,
Had no clue of things
like colourful wings
until he met his doom.
And even then…
for all he’d been,
there’s no basis for conjecture,
That he’d be relieved
to eat no more leaves…
until he tasted nectar.
It quickens the mind
and thickens the blood,
As vague memories dance
in the shimmering mud.
Small intimations of vast integrations
is each just doing his part
To embrace the unknown
with minds fully blown–
Their fragments fall into the heart.
And butterfly can tell no lie
as she lilts upon a dream,
And reminds the other sleepers…
That nothing’s as it seems.

Things seem more connected,
more harmoniously directed
than ever they seemed before.
But it’s not fun and games
when nothing’s the same,
Yet hunger still knocks upon your door.

And oh spider,
you devious rider
of your cables on the breeze…
There’s nowhere to go…
Just let the wind blow,
And trust in your friends, the trees.

What are the odds?
By what circumstance
Might one expect a cadre
of quite casual ants?
To aimlessly wander
this neighbourhood…
It looks like them ants
is up to no good!
Perhaps they’ve lost something
like the gumption to try…
Or simply misplaced
this poor dragonfly.
But please understand,
you disenthralled ants,
that sometimes the prize
still flies…
right out of your hands…