Friday, July 9, 2010

Exude, Extrude















The fungi living on the oak tree exude liquid. A clear ooze.




















A creature, whose name I don't know, a spinner but perhaps not a spider, has extruded these webs along the top of the clipped yew hedge, pushed out fine threads through tiny openings. The webs mist the severe line.

I also think of the way breath clouds a window: a category different from exudations and extrusions. But back to the Realm of Ooze and Extrusion, what are you thinking of? Tell me, please.

7 comments:

  1. related: last night i was thinking of my bedroom as a breathing machine. the fog horn, the lap, lap, lap of waves, the rustle of the breeze in the horse chestnut tree, the refrigerator trucks a block away behind the supermarket humming with energy. none of this was noisy, but it wasnt silent, either. it was the night, breathing.

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  2. I just keep thinking about dark energy and dark matter and how, although I don't know if it relates to exuding or extruding, how little we know about the universe we find ourselves occupying.

    We know almost nothing about what we can observe of the physical world, which they are now saying is less than five percent of what actually exists- the rest of it, all that dark matter and dark energy, may be forever unknowable to us.


    we are like dogs working at mathematics.


    maybe we should just chase squirrels instead.


    yrs-


    tearful

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  3. Thank you for this delicate post, Mim. The image of the fungus oozing and the gauze blanket make me think of the mysteries of nature, relationships and the creative process, each so like each other. How often does the apparently misshapen knot yield clarity? How often are fine threads pushed (or pulled) through tiny openings? Sometimes we have to wait and watch, our eyes and hands open. Sometimes we are asked to assist more overtly in the unfolding. However 'it' happens, it's mysterious?
    Love to you, Claire

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  4. The second image reminds me of a portmanteau. It is the house and the bag all the same for the spider to travel. It lives in its own trunk. How great is that? Many thanks for the photos.

    Greetings from London.

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  5. Tearful: dark matter, dark energy, and entropy. I'm interested in entropy: all things heading for decay. The fungi continue to break down.

    Claire: always yours for metaphor and the actual ooze; sometimes it's honey.

    Cuban: those spinners' 'houses' are light weight! Not like ours.

    Good to hear from you all!

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  6. I was thinking of the balance between wetness and dryness, about the way clouds seem to embody both. The webs looks like clouds, the ooze on the fungi like rain. Decay has both of these aspects: the fungi release their water on the way to rot, the web catches creatures so the spider can drain them of their fluids. Decay is also nurture and nourishment, isn't it? Something humans have great discomfort in facing, yet all of nature speaks of it. What beautiful posts!

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