68

Session 20 (27/9 – 9.05 a.m.):

Sky-clad
he can remember now
that’s what you call it
looking around, he can see it suits some better than others
it’s surprising how soon you forget about it
the place is reasonably dark anyway
illuminated by the flickering flames of the bonfire
banked up on stones in the middle of the enclosure
we must look like a bunch of ancient Britons
guarding the village from wolves
he thought at first
but now it seems … natural, somehow
not nearly as strange as the city streets

The procedure is an interesting one
there’s no way a group of people
accustomed to sober everyday coverings
can strip off and walk naked into a gathering
even a gathering of friends

Instead, they begin with drinks
casks of wine, chateau cardboard
large iced barrels of beer
then a barbecue
plastic forms & paper plates & steaks & sausages & salad
nut-roast & marinated mushrooms for the vegetarians
then the music

The stereo speakers have been resounding
all through the preliminaries
but now some of the group
athletic men & women
stripped to the waist
start drumming on a kind of trellis-frame
of odds & ends of wood & pipe