Trois weary dust-ridden participants depart from the playa,
drifting past ancient lakebeds rimmed by soft chocolate colored hills, punctuated by obsidian colored jagged rocks – strewn by volcanic forces long ago.
Flashes of color and random images blitz through my mind – not unlike our experience in the desert.
A human circus.. starkly moving and leaping across the vast hardened sand –
sand so fine it plumes upward, suspended in the air, plummeting mercilessly when blown in unison.
A temporary magnificent gathering in the harshest of settings,
I gaze now at the silvery jagged Sierras, stretching to the sky,
Harsh too, but devoid of color and sound and interaction, permeating the vast spaces at night on the playa.
The playa, if it could speak, might protest at its newfound use – hammered and split, heated with
massive fires, vibrating with tribal beats and drums, hailing the primordial spirit permeating the air …
Or perhaps it simply succumbs and enjoys the temporary city that settles with such force and
energy, and leaves so quickly – a week is a mere grain of sand in the geologic timeline…
With winter, rain will come to rest atop the playa, filling holes, only to evaporate again, leaving a
more pliable clayey surface, hardening and cracking with time.
A City atop a playa – not unheard of…
When blue bleeds to gray, energy infuses into the air from all corners of the body –
Playa transformed into a circus of wild revelry,
Bouncing beats, pulsating color, leaping flames,
BURNING MAN
by Christianne Bradley
