Land of the Midnight Suns ~ A Pictorial
A Thousand Dimensions
Part I 2014
Chapter One ~ Trip ~ Lift Off
Chapter Two ~ Trip ~ I Surely Fly
Chapter Three ~ Trip ~ I Surely Fly but Sense Oblivion Approaches
Chapter Four ~ Most Wise Counsel
Good friend, I read your thoughts, your musing with interest, and caution care upon your quest for this enlightenment. Seriously. It is no enlightenment at all.
I have no doubts at all about the value of the study, the mapping of the mind, the bending of its will to stimulating drugs; and outside Space, Hallucination!
But I counsel this question.
In every trip, Is it real? Really real?
And I counsel further, if I may.
Four Chaotic Steps
Chapter Five ~ In 2014 I Ponder
Yes, I ponder, reflecting upon this wisdom.
I shall pause awhile.
I leave it unfinished in this brief twilight hour in this dismal 2014.
… and if, perchance, the inspiration returns, then we shall draw this to its conclusion.
Poetry and Prose should ebb and flow and not be contrived.
Inspiration does not always accompany us hand-in-hand to the end. Suddenly we part company, and she becomes elusive, running through the trees, and in glimmers of light we might catch a glimpse but not enough to reconnect. The distance between us seems simply too great, as if the parkland is a supernatural chasm.
And then suddenly, she is by our side again, beaming. And we continue our walk.
That is the secret ~ never force her hand.
Author Note
I
I post this in the public domain so that all who love to write but are encouraged not, to persevere. There is a curious little quirk of human nature, and we all know it well. I see it often. Someone with great promise, a clear gift, a skill, is put down. No, they do not have a clear gift, no they do not have a skill, and then comes the devastating remark that is akin to a nuclear explosion. An explosion that because it is whispered makes it nuclear. I’m sorry, but I think you are delusional.
When this happens, quietly stand firm, stand ground, do not flinch, be polite. Then, when the door is closed or the iPhone call disconnects, do the proverbial imitation and run like a bat out of hell!
II
A theme presents itself and accompanies the writer … all is well. Paths are walked, lanes discovered, clifftops reached, and then just as suddenly, the theme exits.
Whenever we do something well, there will be criticism. That is fine. Indeed, it is essential when it is constructive and by people of very wide perspective. Constructive criticism often dons the cloak of envy. Keep that in mind.
III
Back to the theme. Hang on … Where have you gone? Why did you do that?
Do not give in. Quietly set aside the piece … for I guarantee that she or he, or even they, will one day return and continue the conversation that seemed hither, to have been so full of life, vibrancy and vitality and hope for our future.
It still is! But it tests our resolve. It tests our patience! It tests our resilience.
But that is the joy and freedom of creating work. So, I say again. Let not Theme’s temporary departure put you off, or discourage you.
I repeat. She or he, or they, or maybe even it, will return, at a time of individual choosing. Rest assured, we shall be expected to be poised and ready to continue in our creativity.
Chapter Six ~ From Poetry to Prose
Published in A Thousand Dimensions 1 January 2022
I
Dimension Land of the Midnight Suns results from a study of the very controversial life of Timothy Leary. I did not enjoy the study, but I sensed its importance. Nine years on, it is even more important. A powerful international lobby seeks to legalise some forms of illegal drugs.
Every city, every town, and every village, has a problem with social drugs.
My friend across the Channel advised me to read the biography of Timothy Leary. This was not, as I say, a pleasant read, but most certainly, a very important act of research. One might say it was also, occasionally, one of enlightenment. There were many areas about which I had not the vaguest concept, let alone an understanding.
I then sat down to make sense of it and wrote Land of the Midnight Suns as a poem which I then changed to prose on 9 April 2020. The poetry version still exists but I have placed it in drafts. This prose version is the edition that matters.
II
Chapter One and Chapter Two cover what is often called ‘the trip’.
Chapter Three is my friend’s very wise counsel having read the poetry format. Keeping things in perspective, what I like about Chapter Three is that my friend was, at the time of that advice, still only in his early twenties. He had seen all too often at university in Paris, the wasteland created by the trip’s temporary euphoria.
Now very happily married, I know for sure, he is a wonderful husband and father, with a handle on life and on this century. And that is exactly what we need.
III
There are people who will speak of ecstatic moments in life as a result of their ‘harmless’ enjoyment of drugs.
I watched, however, one young man and still a good friend - a very talented chap - really wrestle with this. He eventually overcame, but the wrestle to the other side is more akin to the terrifying hand-to-hand fighting in warfare that we think doesn’t take place now.
This is the reality of this particular one of a Thousand Dimensions.
Social drugs are a dead end, you know nothing about it, you’ve gone, but your death certificate is handed to your next of kin in a daze. It is a terrifying moment. And your sudden departure will never be overcome. You are priceless. You are loved.
Again, too often, did this come home with distraught parents handing me their child’s death certificate when I practised law in Liverpool, Blackpool, Beaconsfield, Folkestone, Gloucester, Cheltenham, Worcester, Luton, Preston and Blackpool in Lancashire, London and always with that terrifying searching in their eyes but no words … what on earth do we do? How did this ever happen?
Benyamin was a very kind hearted and considerate young man. He enjoyed life, and was working well at Liverpool University. It is not a case of ‘falling in with the wrong crowd”, rather it was the social pressures under which everyone, especially young people, labour in this century of upheaval and conflict. By the time he was found, his body was already - beneath him - beginning its process of returning to the earth.
The autopsy showed high levels of ketamine. It also showed something else. The body had suffered a violent reaction to another substance Rohypnol. Rohypnol, along with GBL and GHB are, in the United Kingdom, the ‘date-rape’ drugs.
There was no evidence of sexual assault. Friends reported that Ben had suddenly stood up saying he was going to get some fresh air on the docks. They never saw him again. Other witnesses testified that they saw a young man staggering across the Strand from the Albert Dock and mounting the steps through the newly created woodland on the hill leading to Liverpool One and the Crown Courts.
22 July 2023
All Rights Reserved
© 2023 Kenneth Thomas Webb
Digital Artwork by Kenneth Thomas Webb
Ken Webb is a writer and proofreader. His website, kennwebb.com, showcases his work as a writer, blogger and podcaster, resting on his successive careers as a police officer, progressing to a junior lawyer in succession and trusts as a Fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives, a retired officer with the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, and latterly, for three years, the owner and editor of two lifestyle magazines in Liverpool.
He also just handed over a successful two year chairmanship in Gloucestershire with Cheltenham Regency Probus.
Pandemic aside, he spends his time equally between his city, Liverpool, and the county of his birth, Gloucestershire.
In this fast-paced present age, proof-reading is essential. And this skill also occasionally leads to copy-editing writers’ manuscripts for submission to publishers and also student and post graduate dissertations.