Gareth Durasow

Rorschach’s Circus
or ten responses adequate to the inkblots of Hermann Rorschach


No.1:

the near death experience
of a falling tight-rope girl;
an aerial view of her final
walk, cutting to her soul's
navigation of worm holes
using Seraphim for wings.




No.2:

turned clockwise by 90° is
Jesus resurrected crossing
the river on his hands and
knees. Or a depiction of a
Guantanamo bay detainee
giving his blood to Mecca.




No.3:

illustrates the denouement
of a movie Lars von Trier
may one day direct, which
is about twins who decide
to exchange their children
at birth. It all ends terribly.




No.4:

an anthropomorphic fable
concerned with two crows,
one named Cain, the other
Abel; both adore the raven
father whose denial of one
will see the other's murder.




No.5:

is a seagull struck from the
sky during a feeding sortie
waged by birds competing
for air superiority over the
fish n chips abandoned in
the wake of foul payloads.




No.6:

the cadaver of a Lamniforme
shark; Carcharadon carcharias
at a guess, maybe Cetorhinus
maximus — a filter feeder of
little threat to humans now
displayed in the city centre.


No.7:

the default response to any
question asked of men who
appreciate marital harmony.
Turn it 180° for the flipside
of the coin: the teeth of the
aforementioned great white.




No.8:

is two colossal salamanders
hatching from ancient eggs
incubated within the centre
of the earth, then racing up
into the seismic gauntlet to
inadvertently reach glaciers.




No.9:

at first glance resembles the
antler-like mandibles of the
male stag beetle but colours
here are not appropriate, so
reconsider it at 180° to find
Pandora's atomic box open.




No.10:

depicts a revolution among
inhabitants of the aquarium
at a seafood restaurant. The
hook descends to ensnare a
crab but the seahorses, with
the crustaceans' help, assist.