[APPLAUSE]
"'Sacred Datura.'
When I read that sacred datura, datura wrightii kótop thorn
apple nightshade moon lily was/is believed to be a magical
plant by Aztecs Chumash Zuni Jivaros Yaqui Tohono
O'odham and more taken/given as a sacrament by religious
authorities exumas shamans sadhus yogis thuggees etc.
to induce visions for aid in shape-shifting or as a doorway
to the flaming world of the dead a place you need to go
to sometimes--
when I read all that I want to eat some right away of course
[LAUGHTER]
because I wish to be wise for me wisdom is more than a
wish-- it's becoming an urgent need,
but that's a story for another time
[LAUGHTER]
My friends and family knowing I lack wisdom grow concerned.
"You're not going to eat it, are you?"
Wendy asks.
[LAUGHTER]
"There's a reason they call it loco weed," Eric warns.
"Scopolamine, atropine, hyoscyamine,"
Dad chants, like a witch doctor naming the toxins of datura Dad
is not a witch doctor but a biochemist with an interest in
and broad knowledge of plant alkaloids
so basically a witch doctor.
[LAUGHTER]
Sacred datura developed poison as a defense against those
who might otherwise eat it such as me this is
a pretty good system it works--
I decide not to eat datura and go back
to looking for wisdom in the usual places--
texts articles on popular science and self-help books
and Rumi who has lots of suggestions although he can be
annoying--
feel the shoulder of the lion, he says that's crazy!
no better than eating datura which
can kill you unless you happen to be one particular insect--
hawkmoth
co-evolved with sacred datura, its nocturnal pollinator
drinking its nectar transporting its pollen unhurt by datura's
poisons but made drunk by them after datura,
hawkmoths stagger flying in large draggy loops.
Perhaps then they are in the Flower World
the dimension that shamans go to on the wings of datura
or so I read I'm always reading
that's how I learned about the hawkmoths who
I'm jealous of now because they have datura all to themselves.
[LAUGHTER]
where is my mystery-containing moonglow flower?
where are the pedals and leaves that sustain me and only me?
I find sacred datura flowering in my neighborhood
near my apartment between the sidewalk and the street--
street, sidewalk, apartment, and neighborhood
all laid down on top of the desert datura's native
land I cut a long white bud and put it in a glass
and in the evening when I'm reading
the bud unfurls fused-5-petalled releasing the scent of lemons
months later I'm thinking about something I read and I
remember-- of course I'm not alone if I am hawkmoth then
my sacred datura is language pages are my pedals words are
leaves meaning is nectar we co-evolved--
I/us in our continual beneficent intoxicating language"
[APPLAUSE]