Saturday, July 23, 2016

Algae Blooms at Central Marina, Stuart, FL

En route to Boca Raton Museum's All Florida exhibition on Florida's East Coast I made an impromptu visit to the Central Marina. The Stuart Park Coast Guards told me the Marina's lack of water circulation created a holding tank for algae caused by runoff from chemicals used in farming, such as pesticides, that infiltrate the water and change its composition.

The lurid green is beautiful, like a paint pour - an aesthetic prompt  for the alarming reality that to breathe this stuff is toxic in the extreme. Its stench equals formaldehyde in a dissection room.



The algae forms a sticky muck,  untenable for breathing.

Inhabited by bugs and flying creatures.




Stagnation meets fresh water.
The Anthropocene Age must redefine the balance of human presence in nature  as our points of intersection become increasingly synthetic.






Wednesday, July 06, 2016

Summer Vacation?

Farewell, Hudson River, on a balmy NY night.

Stonehouse wrote, "We blossom and fade like flowers/

We gather and part like clouds/

earthly thoughts I forgot long ago/withering away on a mountain peak."
From the Zen Works of Stonehouse, Poems and Talks of a 14th century Chinese Hermit, translated by Red Pine.
Image: Japanese ink painting, Museum of Contemporary Art, St. Petersburg
"

But here in Paradise it's not poured but blooming:
Screenshot from Change.org petition to Publix re: no sugar product purchase

"Below high cliffs
unaware of the source
wherever you turn is karma
chaos and confusion
in order to see the truth/look beyond your senses
it's always been this way/the spring flows all around you."

"Below high cliffs
serene in solitude
not visited by time
the mind creates the world
the window holds a setting moon
the stove contains a dying fire
pity the sleeping man
startled from his butterfly dream."

"Below high cliffs
you eat and sleep your fill
indulge desire and lethargy
idle away the months and years
until old age and illness arrive
and a thousand pains afflict you
digging a well when you're thirsty
you endure heat in vain."