Tales From The Forest

Electric Forest in Rothbury, Michigan is more than a music festival. It's a gathering of like-minded people. A force of nature. An energy and presence like no other.

My first time here was in 2022, and just like that, Electric Forest 2023 is almost here again. This year, we're also going with our biggest group yet.

I learned a lot about myself the first time, and I've learned a lot since. One of my favorite things I did last year was write poems and haikus to give away to people I met, or to place as gifts in designated areas.

This year, I'm doing that again. I've compiled twenty different works in the last few weeks, ranging from poems, to haikus, to flash fiction, all inspired by my love of this place. Charged with the energy it brings to not only me, but countless others.

I'll be handing out copies of these works at the festival this year, but in the meantime, I'm sharing them here for all to see.

Enjoy, and Happy Forest!

1) Kandi Bracelet

[Haiku]

I made this bracelet.

They say it’s made of kandi.

I shouldn’t eat it.

***

2) Unapologetically You

[Poem]

Everything you do feels wrong

All of your life, a broken song

Never quite right, never in tune

A storm, an endless monsoon.

They tell you you’re a mistake,

Leaving only chaos in your wake,

I’m sorry is your favorite phrase,

A soothing balm for unending malaise.

Stop believing all of their lies,

Break off their chains, open your eyes,

Come as you are, no more hesitation,

Heed my words, keep this information.

You are enough, I promise you this,

Turn your gaze away from that abyss,

Stop apologizing for something you didn’t do

Just be unapologetically you.

***

3) The Drop

[Haiku]

The beat keeps going up.

Waiting on that sweet, sweet drop.

Oh yeah, there it is.

***

4) Ashes to Ashes

[Flash Fiction]

I wish I had met you sooner. We could have built a life together. Instead we locked eyes while the sky was on fire. Far too late for love to blossom. Our sun took one last breath, then exploded from within. Supernova in the blink of an eye.

It swept across that boundless space. Disintegrating all in its wake. And yet, I was not scared. Beneath the screams, between the rising heat, as concrete and metal melted all around, it didn’t matter.

It was you. It was me. It was us. Two stories that collided just before their end. I wish I had known you. Your eyes told me you felt the same. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be. Maybe we come back, in a place where stars still burn.

I hope we do. I’ll find you there.

***

5) Trees

[Haiku]

Trees are flammable.

They don’t conduct electricity.

They really should though.

***

6) Observation Room

[Poem]

Always together, forever apart,

A layer of glass dividing our heart.

I can reach out, but never feel,

Speak my mind, but never heal.

What will it take to break through?

To heal a wound that’s black and blue?

Watching in an observation room,

A wilting love that was once in bloom.

I scream, but my voice is muffled,

Our entire deck has been reshuffled,

I’ll try to take a new approach,

To build a love beyond reproach.

Tired of watching and waiting,

A routine that always frustrating,

Come back to me, lets try once more,

My love is stronger than it was before.

***

7) The Soul’s Ambrosia

[Poem]

Air to breathe, water to drink,

Sustenance so you can think,

What you need, but not for me,

I am a soul adrift, lost out at sea.

To exist, I require a new creation,

For mortals to rise above their station,

Feed me with your soul’s ambrosia,

Lest I fall deeper into this coma.

Works of art, the spoken word,

Glorious symphonies yet unheard,

I devour your works to stay awake,

In your creativity I must partake.

Wherever creation is abound,

In those places I can be found,

Watching and waiting for a spark,

Hiding between shadows and the dark.

You should not be afraid,

This is the price to be paid,

Your gift comes with a cost,

I am here to ensure it is not lost.

***

8) A Conversation With Me

[Flash Fiction]

There’s no way it should have worked. The damn thing has no basis in science, and yet, there I was. An older, wiser, scarred version of myself standing across from me. A soft smile, a quiet disposition, and a calmness that defies our current circumstances.

“Nice job, you finally did it. You’ve got about three minutes,” he says.

“You’ve done this before?” I ask.

He reaches up and scratches the stubble on his face. A contrast of dark brown and bright white.

“Countless times. The loop has to continue after all. Two minutes and thirty seconds.”

“Okay, well, do I find true love?” I ask.

He laughs. “As close as you can get, yeah. Two minutes left.”

“Do you already know what I’m going to ask?”

He shakes his head. “Every timeline is different. This one is ours. One minute, thirty seconds.”

“Okay, okay. What about my career, do I win the Nobel Prize for my work?”

A fragile smile crosses his face. “I don’t think you actually want to know the answer to that. Come on, one minute left.”

That same calmness sweeps over me. That certainty that he exudes. Just a taste of it.

“Will I ever be happy?” I ask

That smile becomes real. “Now we’re talking.”

I wait, but he remains silent, just staring forward.

“Well, will I?” I ask.

“You’re happy when you let go of uncertainty. When you stop living in the past, obsessing over the future, and wasting the present.”

A single tear rolls down his cheek. “I wish I had realized that sooner. Don’t make the same mistake.”

A flash of light, and he’s gone. I stand quiet for a moment, then I take a hammer and smash the machine. It’s my life’s work, but also a monument to my obsessions. It had to go…

***

9) A Message Meant For You

[Poem]

If you found this, it’s because it was meant for you.

I left stories, poems, and haikus all over this place.

But you found this one, so I want to tell you something:

It isn’t an accident that you’re here.

This place, this gathering, this Electric Forest.

They say there’s a spirit here, and they’re right.

They say you come here to lose your mind,

And find your soul, so are you ready?

I tried to resist last time I came to this place.

I got caught up in the things that don’t matter.

I’m letting go this time, leaving my mind behind,

So I can finally find my soul.

There’s power in this forest. It’s a crossroads,

Between who you were and who you want to be.

If you let it, this place will change you.

If you let it, this place will heal you.

We all come here with burdens,

We don’t have to leave with them.

Close your eyes and open your heart,

Listen to what the Forest is telling you.

***

10) Bears

[Haiku]

I heard a noise now.

But I’m safe inside this tent.

I’m going to stay here.

***

11) A Version of Me

[Poem]

I am who I want you to see,

A persona, a version of me,

Painted in vibrant hues for your eyes,

Pain and trauma hiding in disguise.

I use this power on you,

But for us I must be true,

I can become who you need,

Grab your hand and take the lead.

We all wear masks each day,

It’s how we survive the fray,

It takes strength to adapt to this,

All I need is a single kiss.

You taught me to rise above it,

Gave me grace to finally admit,

That I’ve fallen short in the past,

But that version of me has long since passed.

***

12) The Not Deer

[Flash Fiction]

My sweat-covered hands slid across the cool metal of the shotgun. With shaking fingers I loaded a shell and cocked it with a sharp crack.

The Not Deer didn’t flinch. Its eyes reflected the glow of patio lighting behind me. Blood soaked teeth emerged from beneath decaying skin around its lips. Sharp eyes burrowed into me. Its lanky body faded into the inky black night of the forest behind it.

I didn’t dare look away. I already knew what sights laid behind me. Blood soaking into concrete. Shattered bone and fractured skulls. Friends and family, picked apart like prey in the Serengeti.

Sweat drips down my brow as wood and branches crack just out of sight. I can’t resist, my gaze shifts to another of the Not Deer, standing mere feet from me in the backyard. I curl my finger around the trigger. It remains still.

Just one shot left. Had to make it count.

Another sound, just to my right. Reflexes take hold, I swing the barrel to match. The Not Deer stands on its hind legs, towering over me with an empty gaze. Scuffed hooves come down on my nose. I taste blood as I hit the ground.

The Not Deer gather around. They don’t feel guilty. They have no remorse.

I pull the trigger as their teeth burrow into my skin.

***

13) Panic Attack

[Haiku]

I am Panicking.

Just need to take a deep breath.

It will be okay.

***

14) God For a Minute

[Flash Fiction]

A fire burned in her eyes as she placed the pill in my hand.

“Take that, then take my hand,” she said.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

She smiled. “Everywhere.”

I did as she asked. The effects were sudden and potent. I left the ground, the bass, the music, and the people behind. I saw everything all at once. The galaxies became my eyes, and the planets my fingertips.

People, creatures, and things beyond understanding. All of their stories surged through my expanded mind, filling it like a balloon. I felt their pain, their happiness, their suffering, and their regrets.

I saw everything that was, everything that is, and everything that could be, flying past in a blur, yet somehow perfectly clear. I took a step back, and I saw above it all. I visited the place where colors come from. I drank from the well where inspiration flows freely.

I glimpsed the place where souls are born, exploding like supernovas and blooming like flowers. Growing into fruit, plucked into existence like a cosmic harvest. It was calculated. It was structure and chaos inexorably entwined. It was overwhelming.

I couldn’t take everything I had seen back with me. My mind would not hold it. When I awoke on that open field, she was gone. I wish she had stayed. I wanted to see it all again. I wanted to share the fragments of what I could recall in my mortal mind. I wanted to pass out the pills to everyone around me, and when they return, I would ask them a single question:

If we could all be God for a minute, what would change?

***

15) Time Between Us

[Flash Fiction]

“Hey,” she said, “eyes on me, okay?”

I struggled to focus amidst the chaos all around us. I could barely make out her fiery eyes through my reflection in her visor, but I tried all the same.

“I’m here,” I said. She nodded, lacing her fingers into mine. The synthetic material of our spacesuits slide effortlessly across one another.

“No matter what happens, we’ll get through this. Do you believe me?” she asked.

I didn’t, but I knew she believed what she was saying, and that was enough.

“I love you,” I whispered.

“I love you too,” she replied. I could hear her voice cracking through the speaker in my helmet.

A bright light flashed on our wrist computers. I broke my gaze long enough to look around us. We were approaching the singularity. What happened next is anyone’s guess. When the universe starts to break down and black holes outnumber stars, throwing yourselves into one starts to make a twisted kind of sense.

She reached out in that last moment, but her arms never quite reached me. The laws of physics started to break down.

She flew away from me, but her arms kept getting longer, endlessly extending like ribbons. Her entire silhouette warped, turning in on itself like water circling a drain.

My eyes didn’t know how to interpret it all. I waited for some kind of pain, but it never came. It was more like a mounting pressure in the back of my skull. A growing sense of dread. A feeling like I would never see her again. And then I hit the ground.

We were supposed to be one of the first teams through, but what I saw didn’t make any sense. I stood on lush grass and looked down upon a bustling colony. It was beautiful, a miracle even, but it still didn’t make any sense.

I checked her transponder on my wrist computer. The last signal it received was five years ago. For me it had been mere seconds. I thought it would be distance that separated us beyond that veil, but the universe has a cruel sense of humor.

Instead it was time, dilated and twisted by the black hole, which was perhaps even worse. Did she wait for me, or did she mourn my loss and move on? Only one way to find out…

***

16) A Face in The Crowd

[Poem]

We were strangers,

But I could see,

Your eyes told a story,

Known only to me.

A tale of loss,

Of highs and lows,

A tale that led here,

The path that we chose.

Just a face in the crowd,

Letting the music flow,

Too far to touch,

Too close to let go.

In another life perhaps,

We once danced until dawn,

Not this time my love,

The lines have been redrawn.

I take one last look,

Before you fade from sight,

Peeking behind the curtain,

A story I wish I could write.

***

17) Silence

[Haiku]

I am golden peace.

Silence. So fleeting, so sweet.

Enjoy while it lasts.

***

18) A Heavy Cost

[Flash Fiction]

They tell stories about a spirit that lives in the forest. A being of lightning and mist, one who can answer any question posed to it. Many sought the spirit’s guidance over the centuries, but few have returned with their minds still intact. Some say it’s the forest itself that drives them mad.

Others say that the spirit exacts a heavy cost for the answers it provides. A cost as high as their very souls. I cared not for my mind, nor my soul. I lost both when that thing took my love from me. I knew where it lived, I knew exactly where to seek my vengeance. What I did not know was how to kill it.

The forest was a maze, a labyrinth of quiet reflection. As the stories told, it brought to life your worst fears in the mist that slid between the trees. I saw visions of her. I saw visions of it. It tried to show me my worst fears, but all I saw was my reality.

At the center of the winding paths was a pond. The throne of the forest spirit.

“Spirit, I come to seek your aid. How do I take my vengeance?” I said, laying my sword upon the ground.

“You turn your blade upon yourself,” the spirit relied. My breath caught sharp in my lungs. “I don’t understand.”

“Your mind was not your own. Your vices drove you to insanity, but deep within your broken soul, you know it to be true. No monster, nor creature, nor shadow in the night took your wife from you. You killed her. The blood is on your hands.”

I fell to my knees and wept. I did not think I could feel an agony beyond what was taken from me, but as those hidden memories flooded back, my soul truly broke.

“I have no need for a broken soul. Meeting her again, face to face, will be punishment enough. Now, leave this place.” I stood to my feet and left my sword upon the ground. I would not take the coward’s path.

I would return to my village and share the words of the forest spirit. I would have justice be done for my crimes, and pray to the gods that, in death, my soul would find redemption…

***

19) My Stardust Angel

[Poem]

When time was born,

The universe wept,

Falling stars all around,

The timer counting down

Life would emerge,

Embers embracing wind,

Igniting in me a cosmic fire,

The origins of my heart’s desire.

We are all pieces of a whole,

Possessing a unique spark,

Beings born light years apart,

Within our chests, a beating heart.

My stardust angel, in you I see,

Billions of years that brought you,

From the beginning of time,

To these arms of mine.

Not even galaxies can separate us,

I am yours, and you are mine,

No amount of pain or strife,

For as long as I have this life.

When time reduces us to dust,

Still, I will hold your soul,

From the beginning, to the end of time

All a part of the universe’s design.

***

20) The Forest

[Haiku]

This place has no walls.

A forest of potential.

Embrace the magic.

***

See You in The Forest...