miles and miles in black ballet flats: my first autumn day in Forest Park, Portland

...MILEPOST 17 or SO...

on a fallen tree in Forest Park
dewy mush fungus white pod things and longhair moss, green shag carpet and the hollies and ferns along the halloway
Clouds cover today for the first time since I arrived in town
Will today be the beginning of the rain?
I've heard people talk that it is coming, soon
The low constant roar of trucks on Saint Helens Road and Saint Johns Bridge
disappear and slence for a moment - was that the train? I'm deep in a forest.
Wait. the MAX goes through a tunnel deep beneath this Tualatin hill.
...Now I hear voices, human voices, sounds like a radio or phone. (?!)
I'm just taking pictures of mushrooms here, up there glistening in the sun.
what would the deer that ran by say?
I've walked to get here a long way.
Miles and miles in Ballet Flats.
I'm the guard of the fallen trees -
sword as splinter to the tramps
who pass though the moss house of faerys

Miles and Miles in ballet flats.
I walk this far to show you that
I can - alone and guided by no man

Miles and miles in ballet flats
I seek to find you, sister dear
whether playa or Under Ice
I feeel your heart pumping so near

For Faith is still a Flatiron, and I mean the mountain,
just before a quick storm
and Hope is Saint John, waiting for the bus over his bridge
in the rain again at 5 pm
and then there's Other sister, you,
sunning yourself on a piece of the rock you found at the base of an Altar that forms a Bridge
connecting the faerys from here but I've heard youmay fall -
no you'll swing like Wallenda on Tallulah but will NOT fall
if you are walking in Black Ballet Flats!!!

LEAF ERIKSEN
Among the firs which are not really firs, they look more like ferns (cause they're Western Red Cedars)
Ballet Slippers are a gift from the faerys, made by the gnomes.
Oh my, it's getting cloudy, if these shoes get wet, I have to find the Orc to make me a towel in his mill by the river below
(it's polluting the river, but he's a holdout from the old days,
he has a boat and he lives in Oswego and has several Beavers as Maids)
About the park

frustrated faerie fashionista, part 1

elisa jimenez fall 2008 collection at Touch, from NYC Mercedes-Benz fashion week
via http://bloggingprojectrunway.blogspot.com/2008_02_01_archive.html

“Fall bridges that which has come before with that which will come after, the mythic and the ordinary, art and fashion.” — Elisa Jimenez


Sometime earlier this year I became frustrated with a lot of the clothing I was seeing in big stores and that glitzy urban Atlanta-fashion scene that still seems to dominate the underbelly. And so I looked to nature and the seasons for inspiration...though, clearly I'm not the first by any means.
Elisa Jimenez's fall 2008 collection, for example (and a lot of her Hungerworld project), continues to interest me and feel "present" - many of these pieces I would personally wear in daily life and not feel out of place!
Of course, hand-sewing on a model is pretty impractical for creating a mass-market clothing line. But I have been, and am still impressed by, her shapes, approach, and connection to the natural world.

Jerleni. Photo by zbilly 2008.
skirt: silk, Lucca. shawl: velvet, model's own.

The summer blew through and I saw a lot of turquoise, green, orange and yellow, along with patterns of indigenous cultures. A great way to brighten/intensify emotions during a tumultuous time, but not so helpful for blending in a forest or in water.

I would like to hear from designers who create for the fickle Faerie Folk that are not as well known as Elisa, who is most famous for being a contestant on "Project Runway" Season 4. I'll post some of my findings here in metro Atlanta, for the Fall, including a shoot with model Jerleni. Elisa also has just shown her Spring 2009 collection, "Urban Nomad," which should be exciting.