Pareidolia

(Pareidolia —a tendency to perceive a specific, often meaningful image in a random or ambiguous visual pattern.)

by Richard Matta

I wonder how this seaside limestone face can look so human, as if calcite were painted over a giant head, now fixed in place, watching, waiting as time in the form of aquamarine muscle and quartz-colored foam work away.

Rocks and pebbles are hurled at the face, sand scours, the muscles contract, extend and pound, then again, and again. Parts of the face break off live in a purgatory of sea floor bouncing.

I wonder if there were a mind behind this trapped face, would it see the experience as I do, or instead as an endless celebration of bubbly champagne bottles which spill, fizzle, even erase furrowed brows, and a paradise of endless soft landings.

I sense a whispering breeze, and see a smile.