Reflection
on Shadow Play
Laijon
Liu 20171203
my
book lamp casted my shadow onto the wall:
a
dark human figure moving on a pale screen.
I
stared at my shadow for a while
and
I felt its blankness staring back at me
probably
the wall found me and my shadow
more
interesting than itself and its empty realm
I
tried not to speak a word to the wall
and
tried thinking of many other things as I stared
I
tried not to move, not to disturb the stillness
but
my momentary efforts could only last for so long
so
I turned off the lamplight, the darkness swallowed
the
pale wall, my shadow and my appearance
I
turned on the lamplight again, and I said:
“Let
there be light.” and there my shadow on the wall.
I
sat lotus-sutra, a shadow of meditating Buddha
appeared,
folding his palms and praying
then
I suddenly raised up my open hands
a
dark monster with two claws was born
then
I held my hands, formed a shape of heart
as
the heart bloomed, it turned into a head of cobra
then
a peacock appeared, walking, looking around
for
a mate, and suddenly turned into a wolf with fangs
a
dove like bird hovering on the screen
no,
it was a hawk disguising, scanning for prey
and
I looked around for a crown and a microphone
to
empower my shadow, and I pulled out some bills
one
dollar, one hundred dollar were same size
then
I held my phone, my shadow shot itself a selfie
at that flashing moment, my shadow vanished
everything
was blank, the world and the wall
I
also thought about woman, a woman’s silhouette:
her
floating tresses, plump hanging breasts, round hips
her infinite shapes and mine on the pale screen
totally
made the wall sexy and alive
dancing
pair figures, drama, fighting figures
like
those ancient Egyptian and Greek wall art
and
the kissing scene: shapes of two branch rivers
converge,
join into each other, form a continent...
and
I was tired of my hand shadow performance
my
right hand swiftly turned into a pistol, pointed to
the
head of lonely shadow figure.
