Spring Collective (ii)




























toys and axolotls storm chapel street. each embodies boyhood charms and rustic soil-works of yesterday. aptly titled as collectibles, hal's shop retains a warehouse of dreams for star wars and marvel fans: at-at walkers, vintage figurines, combat busts and wise old mortal enemies like yoda and emperor palpatine posed for a second duel, even jabba the hutt looked artful for the first time. i remember man-handling them many ages ago till their joints were all stunned and broken by the time i was twelve. here, these artifects appeared again, untouched and stood in buddhistic calm waiting for sharp-eyed collectors to take them home.


an unforgettable pet store with rare mexican axolotls (http://www.axolotl.org/index.html) on sale. amphibians with external gills and baby-pink skins. they pack an enormous appetite, famous for their cannibalistic streaks. locals call them walking-fish, a sure betrayal of their genes. back on a corner were tanks of reptiles on display, some on sale; baby boas, blue-tongued scaly lizards, water monitors, irrepressible hermit crabs, rows of quiet scorpions, static bird-eating spiders and the unexpected stick insect surrounded by tall glass, oblivious to the wide-eyed stares of passerbys who strain hard to cut the difference between a twig and bug.

its springtime, not only of the sky but of the mind, lodged in spaces of memory, delighting the eye...