Tora Estep
Oil on canvas
Inspiration piece
Earthen-Colored Vibes and Futurescapes
By Darice Jones
Response
Bing! Ring! Ding! Hummmmm!
Bing! Ring! Ding! Hummmmm!
Bop, on pop, on bop, bop, bop. Tap, tip, tap. Boom to the boom.
Tremor, tremble, shake, shake, shake. Bop, on pop, on bop, bop, bop.
For 20 years this rhythm-heavy, wordless, Soul song played just outside the galaxy that once housed the livable blue planet called Earth.
It was coming from 40,000 paintings that protected the soul’s of Earth’s remaining lives. They were people from a place called Nigeria, a place called Congo, islands called Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago, and Zanzibar, and four cities called New Orleans, Oakland, Detroit and Brooklyn.
Beings from the neighboring galaxies had silently and invisibly visited the lively planet throughout its evolution, fascinated first by the atmospheric developments, the coming into being of the passionate elixir called water, the birth of creatures, and so many varied and electric forms of life. Eventually, one of those creatures – who called themselves People – began to take over the place.
They seemed the only beings for galaxies around that had mixed feelings about life itself. Their actions were those of the perpetually unaware and the willfully immature. They killed and tortured living things without reason. They failed to share resources. They held other living beings back, from whom they should have been learning, and incredibly, they failed to learn all other creature’s languages and cultures. Because of this, the whole planet could not fully actualize. They swore their oath to a system of valuing some living things above others, rather than the oath sworn in the rest of the multiverse – to life itself.
Because of these observations, beings across the galaxy chose to visit and watch, but never to connect with the Earthlings. And beings across the galaxy mourned as the view of the planet from space went from bright blue, to a painful purple, to a deathly gray.
The Ornet Galaxy’s Cicou folk, who were iridescent 6+ feet tall and double-wide mahogany-colored beings with thick, billowy; black cotton-like hair, were the only galactic group to take pity on the Earthlings before their world turned into that ugly ashen ball. They’d gone in waves, disguising themselves as the humans with most authority – sometimes military, sometimes politicians – to offer escape and evolution to some of Earth’s inhabitants. Because the Cicou have always been beings of sound and vibration, they went to places that combined the most sounds in order to create their music.
Adding complex music to the multiverse is considered one of the most mature forms of expressing life. In fact, there’s a direct correlation between the sound expression, the growth of galaxies, and the expansion of life.
The Cicou found 5,000 people in each city who were eager to fulfill their calling as the seeds of humanity that would remain after the earth had gone. The Cicou were deeply proud of these beings, most of whom had a deliciously regal earthen-colored skin and whose hair resembled that of the Cicou. These beings were much smaller in stature though, and would likely be deeply frightened if they knew how tall and wide the Cicou really were. Interestingly, they were willing to risk their own lives in pursuit of preserving humanity precisely because they had been treated so poorly by their Earthling peers.
Their oppressions and tortures had kept their minds open to the possibility of other, better worlds.
They survived by imagining the fantastic and often by imagining their children and grandchildren thriving in other worlds. So when the Cicou shared the process, these particular Earthlings were startled – but their desire for better futures for their descendants outweighed their fears.
The Cicou hid the earthen beings inside colorful galactic energy paintings. They asked the Earthlings to choose imagery and all over the world, they had chosen the same images. Deep Black roots and flourishing Black branches with water and sky flowing behind. They all, in their own languages and in their own connected but distinct cultures, expressed that the paintings should show the connection between past, present, and future. The paintings should represent life.
And the Cicou knew they had made the right decision in helping these tiny beings, because their choice of painting was so evolved. One by one, all 40,000 left their homes, families, and everything they’d known behind to be merged with their own individual painting. They were amazed as their souls meshed perfectly with the painted roots, branches, waters, and skies. The paintings would be displayed in the Ornet Galaxy, just outside the Milky Way. For a generation, the people that lived in the paintings would be observed while, at the same time, they looked out upon their new home in space . The stillness of having their souls embedded in the paintings would allow them to learn and develop in ways that just weren’t possible on their home planet of Earth. And all throughout the galaxies one could hear their souls, alive and adding to the sound vibes of the multiverse.
Bing! Ring! Ding! Hummmmm! Bing! Ring! Ding! Hummmmm!
Bop, on pop, on bop, bop, bop. Tap, tip, tap. Boom to the boom.
Tremor, tremble, shake, shake, shake. Bop, on pop, on bop, bop, bop.
It was almost time. Soon these soulful earthlings would step out of their paintings and into their new lives.
Written by Darice M. Jones
In the year of Wangari Mathaai ©2022
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