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BURNING_SERPENT

                                              September 10, 2006

"The Serpent Mother"                        [ref]
by the Flaming Lotus Girls                  [ref]
was the best art piece.                  
                                                They were originally an
                                                all female collective,
                                                though in recent years
                                                they've been willing to
   We went out wandering                        accept male Girls.
   one night looking for the
   "The Serpent Mother"                            They're one of the
                                                   premier "fire arts"
      There was an "opening"                       groups in the world at
      event scheduled: the                         this point... perhaps
      opening of the egg,                          they're the leading
      "The Serpent Mother"                         one, since Survival
      was guarding.                                Research Labs has been
                                                   less active.
      We couldn't manage it...  we were     
      using the official Burning Man        
      map, which unaccountably indicated               Perhaps it's
      two very different locations for        notable:       
      the Flaming Lotus Girls, and by       
      chance we headed to the wrong one,                 The Man towers,
      and gave up in confusion.                          it stretches high.
                                            
         So, we spent the night wandering about          The Serpent Mother
         the far side, the eastern prong of the          reclines, sprawling
         horseshoe, then took a nap in a chill           across the landscape.
         space.                                    
                                                             The Man
            It was getting cold for what                     flames once.
            we were wearing, so we were     
            forced to head back to home                      The Mother
            base.                                            pulses through
                                                             out the night.
                Far across the plya we'd seen    
                a flashing blip of flame sweeping
                along up and down as though it       
                was riding a roller coaster.         
                                            
                    Our path lead us
                    right by this
                    installation.

     A long, winding segmented
     steel structure, forming
     a rough circle hundreds of
     feet in diameter, studed
     with gas flame jets:
     this was the Serpent Mother.

        It's head loomed a dozen
        feet above us, it's jaw
        opening and closing, showing
        rows of teeth made of
        small jets of blue flame.

            The back of the dragon
            was emitting bursts of
            huge flames in a rapid
            computer controlled
            pattern, creating that
            speeding roller-coaster
            illusion.

               Hundreds of people were gathered
               around it, under it, and inside
               the loop.

                    We were near a low end where the tail
                    swooped down toward the ground.
                    As security, there were only a few
                    spotters standing by to keep people
                    out of the flames.

                           Behind the spotters, people
                           crouched down on the ground,
                           sitting under the tail.

    Instead of hurrying home,
    we huddled in the
    warmth of the serpent.

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