1 pm                                                                                                        2 pm

Photo: Bob Raymond

‘ja sie ist bei trance’


I was walking up and down the back stairs and a family, who had passed me a couple of times, passed again.
They were Dutch or German. 
The dad held the son, 
about 5 yrs old, back as they were passing me. 
The son turned nonchalantly to the dad and said, 
‘Ja sie ist bei trance’. 
I was pretty cross and thought 
‘oh my god even a 5 yr old can see I’m tripping’ 
I was tripping at that time. 
I was on the edge of being out of control, 

I could control my body, it simply moved up and down the stairs, but my mind was hallucinating;
I kept thinking I saw people I knew from home in the audience.
I wasn’t recognising the cadences in the language spoken around me 
so kept thinking I was performing in Europe where I didn’t know the language.
I saw people with midnight blue faces.
I saw people white, white, mime artist,make up on their faces.
The concerete wall of the back stairwell had flowers growning out of it.
I wasn’t happy in these hallucinations, I felt out of control, 
I’d fall in and out of them and get frightened as they left me and 
I remembered where I was and what I was doing. 
I had to keep grounding myself with eye contact with an audience member.

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