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Ode To Isabelle By Bridget Hayes

Ode To Isabelle By Bridget Hayes

xxeSound see-er. Forget the words I want to sing to you. Life

on the open road is the essence of freedom, you plead with

me. You pull Rimbaud from one pocket and Kerouac from

the other. Roads rambling, highways loop-di-loo-ing

through the craters. Our song now is the sweetness of the

air. The delectable flavor of solitary freedom. Taste the

intricacies as they unfold the longer they roll around in the

mouth.

Bubbling up from the magic, dreams manifest their real-

lifeness. At home everywhere. Filled with an omnipotent:

Yes, we’ve arrived. The torturing need to know and see for

oneself what is there, beyond the mysterious blue wall of

the horizon. The red river. A labyrinth of fuzzy mossy

stone lined streets. Lakes reflecting red rooftops, new sea

creatures hoping to break through the tight surface of the

murky waters. The white road leading off into the

unknown distance… feeling the imperious necessity of

giving in to it and following it obediently across

mountains and valleys.

Penciled Notes of a pilgrimage, soaked in spiritual

synesthesia. Clonking marimbas out of context sway in

rhythm with the seabirds of black and white skies. Old

movie clips hint of future dreams. Tunes of hand-inked

notes blown dry by fans of fuchsia incense popping

through the fields. A color destination covering the whole

vast earth… ends only at the nonexistent horizon.

I want to know, is vagrancy deliverance? Or is vagrancy

where the dream unfolds from the journey? Is it the place,

the time, where the dream wakes up onto the stage of the

97streets of Hanoi? Because I dreamed I was in Hanoi,

flitting around in the streets; then I awoke.

Now I wonder:

Am I a woman who dreamt of being in Hanoi,

or am I in Hanoi dreaming that I am a woman.



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