The Hamlet Project

Flat basketballs.
Purple giraffe.
Flamingo in a bowler hat.
Clock face in the belly of a panda bear.
Bulldozer parked in a meadow of wildflowers.
Those who talk about the power of the mind
To conjure what is not there
Will often talks about the helplessness
We have in the face of the painter in our minds.
If I tell you, “Don’t think of a rhinocerus in a pink tutu.”
You will, inevitably, be looking at a rhinocerus in a pink tutu.
You could put it behind a screen
Draw a big X over it
Run a bulldozer over it
And drag it to the dump
But you will still be thinking about a rhinocerus in a pink tutu.
In fact, the more I tell you not
To think about that rhino
The more firmly entrenched it will become
In your mind
Perhaps even more than if I’d told you to think of it.