I know I've used this image before. Not this exact one. I just snapped this one today. But a similar one. Or maybe even "ones". I may keep returning to this theme. It's just that a flock of birds . . and they're not all the same kind . . gathered on wires like this just fascinates me.
When I was a little kid, there was a big tree in an alley about a half a block from my home. It was called "the Big Tree." I don't remember what kind of tree it was but it was huge and was easily climbed by a young squiggler such as myself. I could get high in the tree and not be seen from the ground because of the leaves. And there were places where the branches formed hollows and resting places, where I could lie back and contemplate the universe. Or maybe the hurts and insults I had been dealt on any given day. It was my hiding place. I can remember that there were some wires that ran through the very top of the tree. Probably telephone wires. But I can remember one particularly dark day when I climbed to where I could easily reach those wires and I leaned forward and took one of them into my mouth. I had no idea what would happen. I assumed maybe instant death.
That must have been a particularly dark day. But what happened? Nothing. I think there was only about a voltage of 9 volts in those wires and low amperage. Had they been electrical wires, I think I would have had to have instant contact with two of them at the same exact instant to do any harm.
Who knows why kids in their moments of despair . . now long forgotten . . do the things they do?
Well. I know this. This photo I took today and these dark thoughts gave me a reason to introduce the great K.D. Lang in a bravura performance. Bird On A Wire.
