Week 5: ENTER (PRAISE)

Horace Pippin, Holy Mountain, oil on canvas, 1946

New words: ENTER (PRAISE)


Walking on Solano Avenue Saturday evening. The day had been warm--mid-seventies, and people were in a very good mood. Cafes and eateries crowded, lots of people on the street, general good atmosphere. Then, through the front window of The Bone Room (a strange emporium featuring all kinds of physical / biological relics, skulls, teeth, skeletons and the like) I saw an audience gathered on folding chairs. In the back, a youngish man in country clothes bending over and gesturing carefully at a small furry creature on the floor just in front of him. At first I thought it was a rabbit--but the shape, and the attitude (how do we know these things so quickly?) told me no--something more exotic. And when I looked over at a signboard for the event ("sold out," and the door was closed) the animals were said to be from far-off places...

A second man, somewhat older, wearing an Aussie Bush hat (or maybe South African?) with a band of shells and feathers) helped shepherd each new creature around the room--they seemed to be presenting lots of them, one after the next. And at one point, a full-sized African porcupine with flaired tail was scooting about the room, ducking behind folding chairs, sniffing hands...