Shel Graves' Sensorium

Visitors climb volcanoes and watch lava floes in mountainous Excited.   “It has the most brilliant sunrises and sunsets,” Miss Doe Friend exclaims.  It teems with rodents: mice, rats, voles, chipmunks, and squirrels. Mountain goats and lions perch. River otters squirm and play. Herons land in the lakes.  "The sky is filled with birds and birdsong,” Doe says.  Meandering trails wind into forests and grasslands.  “No need to pack provisions. Delicious and intoxicating Excitement berries grow everywhere," says the Guide.   Travelers marvel at the peaks and exclaim over vistas. The inhabitants of Excited are mountain climbers, far trekkers, and river rafters. They live in high mountain chalets but often sleep outdoors under the wide and winking moon. They watch raccoons clean their food in the river, beavers build dams, and deer traipse through the meadow. In their sleep, the denizens of Excited turn into animals. They shapeshift back and forth b...

Soft breezes flow through Relaxed and filtered light falls. The muted sun casts blue morning tones and orange sherbert nights. Willows shake with rain. Sloths hang in their drooping branches. Herd animals low. Fish circle in large ponds. Hippos lumber below water gazing out of the reflection. Bears loom over the waters gazing in at themselves. Fruit plops from trees easily gathered. The denizens make jam to eat throughout the mild winters.  Relaxed-i-zens live in soft tents, easily collapsed, and moved from grove to grove. They are fruit and berry-chasing nomads. When they have extra, they trade jam with other lands.  Visitors come to the Relaxed lake.  “We had a lovely time, just lovely,” says Miss Doe Friend. "We picnicked by the lake. Then we visited Content, a weathered house atop a grassy hill surrounded by wild raspberries and apricot trees." The caretakers of Content have tired of wandering. They make up guest beds and welcome Travelers to the house. "We visited ...

Boldness has vast, clear skies and crisp and cold. Boldness glaciers rise from the Boldness seas. Miss Emeline Traveler looks out from the edge of the cliff at the milky sea filled with churning waves and ice chunks. She leaps from the cliff and her thick robes fly up around her. She lands gently atop the sea and walks to Bold island, with its slick green shore, stepping around the ice chunks.  “I feel the mastery of this place,” Miss Emeline says.  Visitors climb the stairs to Boldness Mountaintop and shout their claim and their words echo —  heard around the land.  "They seem impervious to harm and criticism," says Miss Doe Friend. The island Pointless rises in the icy Bold sea. Adventurers climb the Pointless Mountaintop where they proclaim their heart’s intent which echoes over the land.  The denizens of Pointlessness keep fires lit along the island shores. The drink from the streams and write poetry upon tiny leaves and sail them down the Pointless river...

A wide rocky road circumnavigates the hills of Exhausted. The Exhausted nomads travel the country along the loop making several rotations every few months.  “They guard the capitol Fatigued and care for the land which they know extensively,” says the Guide.  They plant crops, as they pass, for the nomads behind them. If any group stops, the group behind them will starve. All must continue the journey.  As the go, they record the geographic features of the land and note how it has changed. They prune thorny vines and remove pebbles, rocks, and boulders from the path. They trim overhanging branches.   “Always there is more to do,” says Nomad Vill.  The animals snore curled in meadows beside streams or lounging on rocks in the water. The birds perch in trees and stand on one-leg in rivers eyes closed, and at rest.  The stone amphitheater of the capitol Fatigued marks half the journey round Exhausted. Here the nomads come to rest. They camp many days sl...

Confidence shines with fertility and fruit. Peaches grow heavy. Trails lead up sparkling falls and gleaming lakes. Grains grow fat. Everyone comes to help with the huge harvests. The crops take the people easily though long winters while they stay warm and make art. Confidence experiences all seasons. The smiles of the denizens never waver. The people walk up to visitors arms outstretched. Animals approach bounding, flicking their tails. They never shy.  “Visitors to confidence are always pleased by the accommodations,” says the Guide.  In the museums of Confidence are portraits of heroes. It’s a small land with strong borders. It does not share its good fortune. Confident horses with long manes and tails roam the plains. Their leader is the golden stallion Montague.  It takes a day's journey by sailboat to get to Imperious Island. From the wooden dock,  there's a path through dry grasses up a steep hill. Rock walls line the path and a stone staircase ascends to ...

In Tortured, everyone’s mouths are sewn shut. Their bones scrape as they walk. Shards of teeth line the streets. Denizens speak to each other via their ghosts. The spirits of those who they have harmed or slighted surround them. Enormous haunts of those wounded or killed howl, whine, and loom over them.  “I’m surrounded by armies of ghosts,” says the Guide. “No one will go near me. I always eat alone.”  The denizens of Tortured moan as they walk cradling their bloated bellies which gnaw with hunger. Rocky with teeth, Tortured offers nothing to eat and nothing sweet.  Visitors arrive in the capitol Despair. They are dropped into it from the air or burrow up from below. Trolls rule Tortured. They can master ghosts with shouts of, “Silence!".  TheTrolls of Tortured wish to attack nearby lands but high seas surround them and the trolls cannot swim and fear the water.  "We'll fall in and melt," they whine.  Their haunted howling scares away flying creatures. N...

Taste: apricot nectar Sound: crunching popcorn; high-pitched wailing; crows cawing; scratching  Smell: coconut oil  Sight: a forest path; an ant walks a corpse across my keyboard  Touch: walrusing; dog in lap; her head on my writing wrist; hip pain throbbing; startle response; a fly touch, landing on heel  Extra: "Could we decide that training is, ideally, a partnership of sentient animals—one human and the other non-human—which has the goal of increasing the joy of both partners as well as everyone around them?" — Plenty in Life is Free - Reflections on Dogs, Training and Finding Grace , Kathy Sdao  Grateful for: Lily and Tish