X-Ray Animals
East, South, West, North, Upwards & downwards: the six directions

The mind-field which follows explores the downward direction in the field -- a dream journey down into the world under the world and a visit with the X-ray animals.
I have taken the notion of X-ray animals from the pictures of game animals painted by archaic hunting people usually on rocks in various parts of the world. These were painted on the rocks in what is called the X-ray style. They are usually simple outline drawings which show the internal organs of the animal. The heart, the lungs, the liver, the bowels and so on. These hunters believed that people were descended from these animals so there was a certain difficulty when they wanted to eat one of them. To get around this difficulty, someone -- usually a shaman -- (sometimes called a "technician of the sacred") would make contact with the spirits of the animal ancestors & ask them to give one of themselves to the hunters as a gift.

[Drum fades up]
[Synth comes in. Allow room for music to develop]

Sometimes people go right out
to the edge of the field
& they figure
they'll just keep right on going.
They don't know where they're going,
and they don't know how
they're going to get there . . .
Some of them are prepared, some aren't
some of them drift right off the edge
and they don't come back.
Sometimes people go on dream journeys down into the under-world,
across far mountains,
across a shining bridge,
into a cave,
drift down like a
drowned carbon monkey
through the seven layers
of magnetic water,
& the only music they can hear
is brain echoes in a metal room
that's what they call
the Terminal City blues.

They go to visit the dead relatives,
ask advice, get something special
to bring back, retrieve something,
learn something, grow or gain something.
They want to escape
their own torn memories
which have turned to flesh,
grown stubborn as muscle,
turned opaque & filled up with rage.
We all got to learn our charm
the hard way.
One piece at a time.

(one piece)
Watch the Flash-back kids
as they float down the wet blue streets,
of the lower town down to the beach,
faces scarred by time lapse,
eyes like polished mirrors,
all dressed up like
pirates, adolescent detectives,
aviators with old fashioned leather helmets, big game hunters, Elvis Presly fans,
doctors with plastic stethoscopes,
broken glass angels,
& the blue suicides
cut loose from home & family
their energy bodies 
trailing the thin white strings
don't tie them to anything anymore.

One look at the beasts of habit
as they lick the hands of their masters.
The beasts of habit
turn to face the music.

And the music makes a coloured wind
And the wind blows warm, then hot,
And the eyes that watch
turn to pictures of eyes
and the flesh of habit opens up
so you can see inside
& everything
is made plain,
every is simplified
& there they are,
the X-ray animals
shining out of the rock
right where the old hunters
painted them.
And the X-ray animals
shine out of the rocks.
The guts of the X-ray animals
shine inside their skin-lines.
They have broken hearts & bad livers.
They have warm soft stomachs
& problems with their bowels.
They stare out of the rocks
just like out of a picture book.
They are the long dead.
They were already the magical dead
when they were made.
They were already gifts,
already given away.
Their arms and legs are akimbo.
Their mouths are dripping saliva.
They are panting hard.
They have been running away
but now they offer themselves.
They say, choose me,
take me, please.

The X-ray animals shine out of the rocks.
Their hearts try to stay inside their skin lines.
The X-ray animals stare out of rocks.
And their yes say
when we were drawn,
when we were imagined,
when we were pictured on the rock,
we were already gifts
we were already given away.
They were already given away.
They were already given to us.
down through all the years
they were already given away.

And I'm an animal too and I say
"choose me"
my arms and legs are stuck out
at strange angles,
my eyes look out of the rock
& they say choose me.
We, all of us, are animals
and our X-ray guts shine out.
Our inside life is not hidden away.
It is what we are.
And it is in our eyes.
And we say what we have to say,
whether we want to or not.
Our world is a bruised world
but its a good world,
and not only is it a good world,
its the only world we got.
And we got it from them.
We got it from the old x-ray animals.
We got it and they showed us how it was
to have the heart on the sleeve,
to have the guts inside out,
to have antlers on your head,
and fur and skin and legs that could run
& parts that can wear out
& how to give yourself away
and what invention is like
and how to make a philosophy
and what to do with rocks
how to put pictures on them
and how to make the pictures say:
"choose me"
"choose me" please choose me.
They were gifts for us.
And they came all the way down
came all the way down saying
choose me
yes indeed
saliva dripping out of their mouths
and their noses wet
and their eyes painted sky blue
and they're talking to me
and  they're talking to you.
And they turn to face the music.
They look over their shoulders.
They lick my hand.
They have been running away.
They are very tired.
They are panting hard.
They have been running away
because they are afraid.
They want their life.
They love their life.
I want my life.
I love my life.
When I look in their eyes
their eyes go deep
all the way through
and their eyes say: "choose me."
They say: "its my turn."
They say: "hello."
They say: "good bye."
They say: "see you later."
They say: "so long Joe."