THE POMPEIAN FAUN & AFRICAN MAN PILL
It was a summer day in 2017. Lying in bed, I had taken 600 mg of high‑quality LSD and an infamous aphrodisiac capsule from a sketchy Chinese store, known as the “African man pill.” All for therapeutic purposes. “Stairway to Heaven” by Led Zeppelin was on repeat, roaring from my expensive KRK studio speakers and a humongous bass box in my small 21‑square‑foot apartment on Kommendörsgatan, Karlaplan, in Stockholm.
It was too strong, even for me. I effectively felt like I was blasted off into space. I called my brother and clearly stated that he needed to come by. The experience was too intense. After the call, I somehow felt—and also saw—that I woke up in the Sun. There was fire everywhere, and I stood in the middle. But the whole structure of the star needed to be reprogrammed, as the ”circuits” of the Sun (that I was experiencing) were off somehow. At that point in time, they were not connected as they should be.
My brother came by after a while. “Nice speakers,” he commented. “And is that a new kind of pawn?” he remarked, noticing my little bronze statue of the Pompeian Dancing Faun standing on my new chessboard. He also asked if I was okay. “Well, I believe I AM!” was my confused reply.
“Do you have some food?” he inquired, looking in the refrigerator. “Very balanced diet,” was his remark when he saw the five packages of carrots and nothing else. So he went to the store and bought me some peanut butter, jordnötssmör in Swedish; (nutbutter of the earth). After that, I involuntarily gave off three explosive “cannon blasts,” to which he said, “Fucking hell,” and removed himself from the apartment. Farting heavily is a sign of repelling bad spirits, so I was relieved.
