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<<timedinsert .7s>>//moist and dank, \n\n<<timedinsert .7s>>fecund, \n\n<<timedinsert .7s>>roiling with bulbs ready to burst forth, \n\n<<timedinsert .7s>>white bodies of grubs [[writhing|bodies]]//\n\n<<endtimedinsert>><<endtimedinsert>><<endtimedinsert>><<endtimedinsert>>
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<<timedinsert .7s>>//warmth on my face, \n\n<<timedinsert .7s>>shoots pressing up,\n\n<<timedinsert .7s>>tumbling soil under cracked [[frost]]//\n\n<<endtimedinsert>><<endtimedinsert>><<endtimedinsert>>
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The roots that clutch
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<<replace "The wheel turns.">>You move through throngs of people but their faces are <<replace "blurred.">>blurred.\n\nThe crowd seems to flow around you, never jostling, never <<replace "touching.">>touching.\n\nA chill breeze brushes leaves across the pavement as a <<cyclinglink "hungry" "restless" "trapped" "desperate">> black dog twitches in its [[sleep]].\n\n<<endreplace>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>>
<<replace "The wheel never stops turning.">>Figures of people appear as shades in the <<replace "gloom.">>gloom. They cluster around a meager flame, jostling for position, feeding the fire with <<replace "damp twigs.">>damp twigs.\n\nYour feet move automatically, shuffling forward. The ground feels more solid, the dirt packed more <<replace "firmly.">>firmly.\n\nAre you getting closer to the surface? Or have you walked this ground [[before|blah]]?<<endreplace>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>>\n
//I dreamt then of sunlight\n\nbut a man with <<replace "an owl's face">>an owl's face\n\nhoary, ancient, unblinking, <<replace "alien">>alien\n\npressed his <<cyclinglink "lips" "beak">> against my <<replace "mouth">>mouth\n\nand in a rasping whisper, told me I could never [[leave]].//\n<<endreplace>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>>
<<replace "The black dog is always waiting.">>\n\n<<replace "The juice of the fruit pulp runs in sticky veins down your arm.">>\n\n<<replace "Dull roots underfoot sing their promise as they lie waiting for the spring rain.">>\n\n<<replace "Clay rests in the ground, sticky, unshaped.">>\n\n<<replace "You keep walking, one foot in front of the other.">>\n\n<<replace "The river flows.">>\n\n[[Blow out the candle.]]\n\n<<endreplace>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>>
<<timedinsert .8s>>\nThe roots that clutch\nby Laura E. Hall\n\n\n<<timedinsert 1.3s>>\n//“Do not ask how my blood ran cold and my voice choked up with fear. I cannot write it: this is a terror that cannot be told. I did not die, and yet I lost life’s breath: imagine yourself what I became, deprived at once of both my life and death."\n\n-Dante, Inferno, Canto XXXIV, 22-27//\n\n<<timedinsert 1.8s>>\n//Inspirations//\n- [["I. The Burial of the Dead" and "II. A Game of Chess"|http://www.bartleby.com/201/1.html]], [[The Waste Land|http://world.std.com/~raparker/exploring/thewasteland/explore.html]], T.S. Eliot\n\n- samsara, [[dependent arising|http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/depend.htm]]\n\n- [[Persephone/Proserpina|http://www.theoi.com/Khthonios/Persephone.html]]\n//"Her name is commonly derived from pherein phonon, "to bring" or "cause death," ... "The Latin Proserpina, which is probably only a corruption of the Greek, was erroneously derived by the Romans from proserpere, "to shoot forth."//\n\n- [[Churchhill's black dog|http://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/docs/Foley.pdf]]\n\n\n<<timedinsert 2.3s>>\n//For, alone of gods, Death loves not gifts; no, not by sacrifice, nor by libation, canst thou aught avail with him; he hath no altar nor hath he hymn of praise; from him, alone of gods, Persuasion stands aloof.\n\n-Aeschylus, Niobe, fragment 81//\n<<endtimedinsert>><<endtimedinsert>><<endtimedinsert>><<endtimedinsert>>
You keep <<replace "walking.">>walking.\n\nThe buildings and landmarks tickle the edges of your memory, but you can only grasp at the sense of vague familiarity, as if a shroud is draped over the landscape, <<replace "obscuring its edges.">>obscuring its edges.\n\nYou move from window to window, peering inside, but the houses are dark, and the feeble light of your candle cannot reach inside.\n\nYou follow the sound of the [[river|welcoming2]].\n\n<<endreplace>><<endreplace>>
Keep your eyes on your <<replace "feet.">>feet.\n\nPut one <<replace "in front of the other,">>in front of the other, <<replace "in front of the other,">>in front of the other, <<replace "in front of the other,">>in front of the other, bare toes pressing into the [[damp soil|earth]].<<endreplace>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>>
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//And in the logic of dreams I understood the [[truth]] of this.//
<<replace "Fleshless">><<replace "Formless">><<replace "Freed">>[[I awaken.|awake]]\n<<endreplace>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>>
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The river is a circle, <<replace "enclosing.">>enclosing.\n\nThe black dog guards <<replace "against escape.">>against escape.\n\nA mother's lament echoes, but the body is pressed down by the weight of the [[earth|garden]].\n\n<<endreplace>><<endreplace>>
Laura E. Hall
//I dreamt then of [[sunlight]]//
It's funny, actually.\n\nYou'd always pictured the Underworld as a desolate place, field upon field of dusty, grey pebbles or something.\n\nBut this doesn't look all that different from the regular world. <<replace "(Whatever that means.)">>\n\nIt's shrouded in mist, but that may just be because it's <<replace "morning.">>morning. When your vision twists and shimmers, you can't tell if things around you are shifting subtly or if you're just tired. <<replace "(Probably just tired.)">>\n\nThe soil smells dark and rich. Beneath your feet, you can sense the gnarled roots straining blindly, the pink worms wriggling through the earth. <<replace "Things grow here.">>Things grow here.\n\n[[A black dog]] sleeps nearby.<<endreplace>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>>
A honeyed cake keeps the creature from waking fully, but its rest is easily disturbed and it opens <<cyclinglink "both" "eight" "sixty-four" "untold numbers of">> gummed eyes to peer at you, <<replace "blinking sleepily.">>blinking sleepily.\n\nYou can't see the rows of gleaming razored teeth but <<cyclinglink "somehow" "deep inside" "instinctively">> <<replace "you know they are there.">>you know they are there, ready inside that moist, red mouth.\n\nThe dog's stomach [[rumbles|welcoming]].<<endreplace>><<endreplace>>
You stumble, but your candle doesn't go out.\n\nStay <<replace "focused.">>focused.\n\nDon't look at the trail of footprints you're leaving <<replace "behind.">>behind.\n\nFollow the sound of the [[river]].\n\n<<endreplace>><<endreplace>>