my down to earth brain invented a metal spine today
in the basement of the Folkshochschule, in the treasure room
with all the left overs, the things that have been discarded
we discovered big bags with hundreds of jeans
jeans and jean fabric clothes
i am intrigued by clothes, by how we are perceived
differently when we look differently
and i sifted through all of them
taking the ones that fitted me in some sort of way
that fit my body or my mind
i wore a white jeans suit when i performed being a map
yesterday
white jeans, a white jeans jacket, a white shirt
and today i wore a dress i liked a lot
nice length, nice details, red stitching, buckles
pockets, i love pockets!
it was too big though
in a way
i remembered the word i had received as a gift yesterday
lagom
an untranslatable swedish word
meaning enough, sufficient, just right
in balance, perfect-simple, suitable
almost perfect
a
popular folk etymology claims that it is a contraction of "laget
om" ("around the team"), a phrase used in Viking times to specify how much mead one should drink from the horn as it was
passed around in order for everyone to receive a fair share
the
dress was perfect-simple, suitable for the day, almost in balance
so i
brought it in balance
i
invented a metal spine
a
rigid thing, it seems, it sounds like
but i
can move it, transform it
a
flexible thought makes a flexible spine
an
almost perfect dress
lagom
i had received
the word when i handed in the keys for the four houses on the premises that are
about to be torn down
we had
inspected the buildings
we had
taken all the things we could use for our project
i
wanted to take down the blinds, but i wasn’t sure if i could take them
so i
asked and i had to explain what blinds were
my
hands mimicking opening and closing them
they
drew lines in the air in front of an imaginary window
and
after some miscommunication we understood each other
the
woman laughed and told me she was happy she had learned a new english word
i
asked for a swedish one in return
i
received “lagom”
and
when we returned to the houses to take down all the blinds
i
bumped into a man who was taking out a kitchen
we conversed
about reusing things, about sustainability, about the impossibility to get the
world back into its proper shape although that can never be a reason to give in
we
need to believe in the impossible
but we
shouldn’t try to be perfect
it
would only frustrate us
and he
told me he was a fisher and a hunter, he told me he didn’t eat meat often, but
when he did, he made sure the animal had had a good life
and i
remembered the chicken i had eaten yesterday
and
how balint had told me he ate meat but not chicken, because they have the worst
life of all animals
and
today i walked past the meat and went for the vegetarian option
but i
couldn’t resist and returned for a piece of dead animal
a
small piece only, but still
but
still
we
can’t be perfect
we can
only do what we can
find
the right balance between our own happiness and the world’s
we can
be in the almost
look
through open blinds
Joakim
had spread the blinds out on the grass
until
we would find a place to hang them, to project Therese’s footage on them,
to see
sea
waves
invading the thin metal stripes
blinds
on the grass, closed
out of
place
resembling
big sheets of paper
an
aireal view of a strange city
i took
off my shoes and walked the streets, the pathways
the
blind maze that in no way could get my feet lost
but my
thoughts got lost
and i
thought of almost everything
almost
not
too much, not too little
lagom
No comments:
Post a Comment