P(r) – Bachelardian Reverie 1

“…when will-o’-the-wisps–beings of very indeterminate sex–are to seduce men or women, they become precisely, according to the person to be led astray, flambettes (f.) or flamboires (m.).”  (Bachelard, 38)

Everything is changeable.  Nothing is black or white or either or.  Everything is everything.  There are no absolutes.  That a creature of folklore would need to be of a certain (opposite) sex to lure an unwary child away seems Freudian.  A human construct placed on an inhuman thing.  But is it a human construct? An animal construct.  We do  seem to work in pairs, for the most part.  (Un)matched pairs.  His and hers.  Yours and mine. Little statues on top of the cake in black and white.  Harlequin.  Hen and rooster shaped salt and pepper shakers.  Black and white.  Masculine and feminine.  Little Red and the Wolf.  Dark fur and tender white flesh.  Always fairy tales.

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