JPG

IN DJUPAVIK THERE IS A DRIFTWOOD HOTEL

BUILT BY VIKINGS, HE LIED

TWIRLING A TINY THREAD 

THAT CANTERED THROUGH HIS STORIES

LIKE THE SILK IN A PERSIAN CARPET.

I DON'T PRY OR TRY TO CATCH HIM WITH A QUESTION

INSTEAD I BRACE MYSELF FOR A RIDE

THAT WOULD SOAR ABOVE THE WORLD

WHILE THE PLAIN TRUTH FELL AWAY

DOWN TO THE LAND WHERE MY BODY WAS

CLINGING TO PIECES OF ROCK

AND PINNED DOWN BY THE LAW 

OF GRAVITY

Fact or Fiction: The Driftwood Hotel

When i first heard of Seanie Blue's trips to Iceland and his love affair with The Hotel Djupavik, he described the place as having been built out of driftwood by the vikings, Eva, Assi and their son, Hedin.

So for years i imagined the Vikings toiling away. And after making my plans to travel there in the wintertime, I told a concerned friend not to worry because i'd be staying in a hotel built entirely out of driftwood ... by vikings. His eyebrows went up.

But when i arrived at the Hotel Djupavik to my surprise there was no hint of driftwood in the construction. And it turned out that it wasn't built by the vikings - but they did buy the place in the 80s.

I’d been had. We laughed. But why this little tale, i wondered?

The difference between fact and fiction is easy to imagine at the onset, but a good story always seems to weave the two together in a mysterious and irresistible recipe that continues to write and rewrite the the human tale.

So why not create legend out of a simple piece of wood? Why not be the author, the conductor, the artist, of your own life? Why not a driftwood hotel? And why not listen to every spoken and written word as a story and part of a larger fiction to be understood rather than believed.

In the At the Edge of Nowhere: Iceland photo essay.