Aerial photography fascinates, in part, I think, because it’s slightly superhuman. An omniscient perspective, removed from the familiar, human scale world we inhabit. For a moment we enjoy an eye in the sky vantage that augments our reality. This ceiling fan haiku explores another perhaps tangentially related experience of wind — both natural wind and contrived wind — a force from afar, the breath of reality itself, that connects us directly, physically, palpably with our world and its supernatural forces.
There was a time not too many years ago, when I had no affection at all for ceiling fans. They struck me as peculiar, generally unattractive accessories that I mostly associated with childhood visits yo grandparents, great aunts, aunts, uncles, and cousins in the deep south.
But Susan introduced me to the surprisingly habit forming practice of sleeping, year-round, not just in hot summer months, beneath a ceiling fan. Moving air, it turns out, invites deeper and more comfortable sleep. At least it does for Susan and me.
And so soothed am I by a ceiling fan that I decided yo incorporate one into the icehouse rehab.
Ceiling Fan Haiku
One whispering wind,
summer’s subtlest kissing,
cooling, ceiling fan.
Staying Cool
Something about a haiku and the ineffable nature of indoor wind, manifested as if magically within the confines of a bedroom. Or an icehouse!
The ceiling fan, portraitized in the sepia tone photograph above, promises a simple way to stay cool, simple be virtue of moving air. On a hot day like today it captures at least some of the summer vibes that I well one after weeks of rain.
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