HURTLING THROUGH ROSEBUSHES POEM

Hurtling Through Portals Poem

You open in a sparkling topiary garden. It's night, and foggy. You’re surrounded by strange shapes, tall bushes heavy with apples and giraffes covered in blossoms. Bach’s Aria from the Goldenberg Variations, played on piano by Kimiko Ishizaka, is coming from all around you. Directly in front of you is a rainbow-soaked arch of greenery, and within it floats a sign:

HURTLING THROUGH ROSEBUSHES POEM

You follow a pebbled path through the arch and see another sign:

HOW TO READ: RUN FORWARD AND DON’T STOP

So you do, following the path through the garden and reading as you go.

THROUGH HERE

FOLLOW MY WORDS

AND KEEP GOING

NO MATTER WHAT’S IN YOUR PATH

A huge square bush, tall and wide as a wall, rises up in your path. But you keep running.

GOOD

You crash through another.

PERFECT

OK

LET’S BEGIN

The music is getting louder and louder. You follow the path through a series of arches flanked by rose bushes and silly topiary dogs dripping in flowers. You emerge into a grassy void where all the now-familiar shapes of the garden are present, but warped and flowing.

LOOK BABY LOOK!!

THE AFTERLIFE IS SWIRLING IN YOUR ROOM’S FLAT AIR

DUST PLANES TURNING IN A SUN BEAM

ONCE-BODIES

WINKING SIDE BEFORE SIDE

INFINITE FREE COFFEE AND

EGGS LESS WARM THAN AIR

THE SMALLEST POSSIBLE

UNIT OF GRAHAM CRACKER

5 UNINSURED YEARS AND THEN YOU

SLEEP THROUGH YOUR DENTIST APPOINTMENT

IT’S ISN’T QUITE SUFFERING IT’S JUST

White garden fences to your left and right close in around you as you keep running forward. Ahead, you see where they nearly meet and dive through, to keep from being trapped, into darkness. The stone path beneath your feet continues groundless into the void.

THE SHRINKING REALM OF THE LIVING

The path diminishes and disappears beneath you. You’re running forward in total darkness.

IT’S AFTER NOON, SO

THE UNSHINY SKY IS NAVY

THE WORLD ENDED A FEW MONTHS BACK AND

THE BUS STILL RUNS SOMETIMES

YOU STILL NEED MONEY

Still flying forward through the words, you realize you’re in silence and there has been no music for some time.

YOU WATCH

TAP WATER MELTING BUTTER OFF A SPOON

YOU’RE HOLDING THE SPOON

THE MAN YOU USED TO CHEAT WITH

BUYS YOU TAMPONS ON HIS FSA

YOU’RE BOTH BOYS THESE DAYS

YOU DRINK AND KISS

IT’S A CLIMATE OF RATTRAPS

AND SOMEDAY

The path resumes weakly before you, getting bigger. You hear faint music, and it grows louder and you keep going.

A GENERATION WILL EMERGE UNPOISONABLE

BUT THIS IS NOW

YOUR HANDS ARE TIED AND

YOU’RE HURTLING FORWARD THROUGH

PORTALS TOO RELATABLE TO BE REAL

YOU CAN’T BE KILLED

TIL THEY SWORD YOUR HEART

IN ITS SECRET EGG DEEP IN THE FOREST

YOU LIFT A FINGER AND

SOMEONE SEES

A FINGER APPEAR THROUGH A TRAPDOOR

THE END IS

ANOTHER DAY OF CHOICES

You crash through a blinding light and are left in total darkness. You can stop running.