Mycology before Sleep

The most exciting moment of the day – time to go to sleep.

I could go to a discotheque,

to a burger joint,

to the opening of some underground space.

But I’ve done all that, many times.

You can experience far more interesting

            surroundings, adventures, characters

and even scents

in dreams.

A few chapters from a 20th c. masterpiece.

Then, two tablets:

melatonin with peppermint – the natural hormone of darkness,

and one full of good bacteria.

If I don’t forget – a prayer or

a summary of the day’s events and announcement of events to come

(with a perennially hanging P.S.,

a conscious comprehension of force majeure:

the heart can refuse to beat –

it is the most autonomous director of the body –

and then all the plans go down the drain).

You dream your grandmother eating Atlantic Cod liver conserves,

the closet in childhood’s wall,

and you sitting in it as if on a swing, your head upturned,

            perhaps about to kiss,

and next to you – an agreeable, famous gentleman

showing you a wad of money or postcards

with fluorescent iguanas:

the lizards are smiling:

strange and wonderful.

All of this happens

while bacteria grow their colonies in the dark:

grannies breed grannies,

fixing fertility and health,

fixing the microbial balance between good and evil.

Vaiva Grainytė (Lithuania, 1984 -), translated from Lithuanian to English by Rimas Uzgiris

Source: Vilnius Review, read our interview to Vaiva

Cover: a detail of an artwork of Mitra Farahani (Iran, 1975), ph. Diana Marrone

mayyouliveininterestingtimes, #BiennaleArte2019

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