Huxleys

Morrisons

Doors of Perception
                     you wouldnt think youd stumble on one standing at the edge of a busy city street in broad daylight or perhaps he was the only one who had the time to pay any attention or be curious of it

passersby passed by indifferent or blind to it

HOW  it was enormous 

it seemed of the early 19^th Century  planked  and massive  

of a time when someones front door  if they could afford it  said something substantial of the person and the family living behind it

in the staring daylight the door threw no shadow

it stood suspended above the cut granite curbstone

an ironworked Speakeasy  twisted metal grill mounted on its face

at his attention and approach the door shivered oddly  

its jamb was worked

smooth under the feel of his palm

he stepped off the curb onto the cobbled street working its way through scabs of asphalt

behind the door he saw it was smudged with fingerprints 

tung oiled  it smelled of oak fires beeswax candles and sumptuous banquets

he mounted the curb again

he stood on the sidewalk irritated passersby who thought he was panhandling 

he ignored them


then before the door again
                            something abrupt seismic

he placed his hand flat on the heavy brass keyed plate above a large spherical doorknob relieved with an imprint of the Eastern Hemisphere  Europe  Africa   Asia 
                                                 finely detailed

threaded by accurate latitudes and longitudes

from the plate above the afternoons heat he felt its warmth emitted
a romantic throb

he stepped back and rapped it hard with his knuckles 

the rap sounded into a room beyond

deep sounding

though a small room

he tried the doorknob 

it did not resist him
it turned

              it turned its workings and latch slipping its jamb

the door hung freed

he pushed it in

it swung soundlessly to his left passing easily above a thick oriental runner that was revealed

the runner ran into the darkened hushed room before the foot of an enormous mirrored dresser

in its thin silver eroded by Time  eroded by being ignored unused  it reflected a large canopied bed he hadnt seen when he entered        

into his eyes it also threw the reflections of two large gray figures  sitting upright  in ancient bedclothes

he slowly turned his head from their reflection

motes slithered on ɪɡˈzɪstənt sunrays barely penetrating the brown dusky atmosphere

the figures seemed mummified

yet from them he felt a slow radiating  heat

then at once their eyes shifted towards him and a creep ran through his blood  electrifying his nerves

the figure closest him shivered near imperceptibly  his eyes came into terrible focus

a gigantic alligator in bedclothes topped with a maidens lace nightcap

and beside her an immense snapping turtle
 

the turtle yawned its beak colored a tarnished ivory

he took a step back
                     no sooner had he than the alligator slipped out of the bed like an aroused snake lightning quick  winding its thick tail around his legs up to his waist 

then leaning back
away from him

took him in

in its weak eyes

Yes

not spoken

a question                                                                                                                                      
Nothing

he answered unsaid

Please forgive the interruption                                                                                                
What is it

asked the massive turtle

unspoken

Curious  it is

responded the alligator

not spoken

Let  curious  go

unspoken

Go

not spoken

and its tail unfurled from around him

then  a coolness invaded his legs

telling  how warm he had been in her embrace

he didnt have to be untold twice

she returned to her place in bed beside the turtle

he placed a coarse foot gently on the chenille bedspread atop her ample thigh
Curious
unspoken

Hard to blame

not spoken

the turtle began to clear his throat

if there were something unspoken he said 

he didnt hear

he had already backed out of the room
snugging the door closed behind him

I have nothing for you

some passerby said to his back

No  You dont

he replied loudly curtly  startled by his voice

NO  YOU DONT

the passerby quickened his stride away from him with scarcely a glance back 

he was tempted to give chase just to put a spark back in its dogged life

but his Curiosity was rewarded once to-day

no sense in being greedy

the door quivered  scantily

in the Moment to blink
                       it was gone

a shadow it hadnt thrown earlier
                                   evaporating from the gnarly street and cobblestones

his lifelong fondness of doors  was recognised

and what once had been his favorite was usurped

a small red doorway on Santorini

he had felt an intruder there too                                                                                                                                                 

drawn by Curiosity

but closed doors always fascinated him              

Whats on the other side
unsaid


 

1519,  Friday,  8  5. 15

0106,  Twosday,  12  5. 15